Load-Store Unit

rtl/ibex_load_store_unit.sv

The Load-Store Unit (LSU) of the core takes care of accessing the data memory. Loads and stores of words (32 bit), half words (16 bit) and bytes (8 bit) are supported.

Any load or store will stall the ID/EX stage for at least a cycle to await the response (whether that is awaiting load data or a response indicating whether an error has been seen for a store).

Data-Side Memory Interface

Signals that are used by the LSU:

Signal	Direction	Description
data_req_o	output	Request valid, must stay high until data_gnt_i is high for one cycle
data_addr_o[31:0]	output	Address, word aligned
data_we_o	output	Write Enable, high for writes, low for reads. Sent together with data_req_o
data_be_o[3:0]	output	Byte Enable. Is set for the bytes to write/read, sent together with data_req_o
data_wdata_o[31:0]	output	Data to be written to memory, sent together with data_req_o
data_wdata_intg_o[6:0]	output	Integrity bits to be written to memory, sent together with data_req_o (not used unless the SecureIbex parameter is set)
data_gnt_i	input	The other side accepted the request. Outputs may change in the next cycle.
data_rvalid_i	input	data_err_i and data_rdata_i hold valid data when data_rvalid_i is high. This signal will be high for exactly one cycle per request.
data_err_i	input	Error response from the bus or the memory: request cannot be handled. High in case of an error.
data_rdata_i[31:0]	input	Data read from memory
data_rdata_intg_i[6:0]	input	Integrity bits read from memory (ignored unless the SecureIbex parameter is set)

Bus Integrity Checking

The core can optionally generate and verify check bits sent alongside the data for memory accesses. Checkbits are generated and checked using an inverted 39/32 Hsaio code (see vendor/lowrisc_ip/ip/prim/rtl/prim_secded_inv_39_32_enc.sv). An internal interrupt will be generated and a bus major alert signalled if there is a mismatch. Where load data has bad checkbits the write to the load’s destination register will be suppressed. Ibex checks the integrity against the response data for both loads and stores. For stores the response data is otherwise ignored so the data can be any value provided the integrity is valid (data_rdata_intg_i must match with data_rdata_i). It is recommended for write responses some fixed value is placed on data_rdata_i and data_rdata_intg_i by the memory system Ibex is connected to in configurations where integrity is used.

This feature is only used if the core is configured with the SecureIbex parameter set. For all other configurations, the integrity signals can be ignored.

Misaligned Accesses

The LSU is able to handle misaligned memory accesses, meaning accesses that are not aligned on natural word boundaries. However, it does so by performing two separate word-aligned accesses. This means that at least two cycles are needed for misaligned loads and stores.

If an error response is received for the first transaction, the second transaction will still be issued. The second transaction will then follow the normal bus protocol, but its response/data will be ignored. If a new load/store request is received while waiting for an abandoned second part to complete, it will not be serviced until the state machine returns to IDLE.

Protocol

The protocol that is used by the LSU to communicate with a memory works as follows:

1. The LSU provides a valid address in data_addr_o and sets data_req_o high. In the case of a store, the LSU also sets data_we_o high and configures data_be_o and data_wdata_o. The memory then answers with a data_gnt_i set high as soon as it is ready to serve the request. This may happen in the same cycle as the request was sent or any number of cycles later.

2. After receiving a grant, the address may be changed in the next cycle by the LSU. In addition, the data_wdata_o, data_we_o and data_be_o signals may be changed as it is assumed that the memory has already processed and stored that information.

3. The memory answers with a data_rvalid_i set high for exactly one cycle to signal the response from the bus or the memory using data_err_i and data_rdata_i (during the very same cycle). This may happen one or more cycles after the grant has been received. If data_err_i is low, the request could successfully be handled at the destination and in the case of a load, data_rdata_i contains valid data. If data_err_i is high, an error occurred in the memory system and the core will raise an exception.

4. When multiple granted requests are outstanding, it is assumed that the memory requests will be kept in-order and one data_rvalid_i will be signalled for each of them, in the order they were issued.

Figure 6, Figure 7 and Figure 8 show example-timing diagrams of the protocol.

Figure 6 Basic Memory Transaction

Figure 7 Back-to-back Memory Transaction

Figure 8 Slow Response Memory Transaction