Energy Consumption Evaluation for Two-Level Cache with Non-Volatile Memory Targeting Mobile Processors

A number of systems have several on-chip memories with cache memory being one of them. Conventional cache memory consists of SRAM but the ratio of static energy to the total energy of the memory architecture becomes larger as the leakage power of traditional SRAM increases. Spin-Torque Transfer RAM (STT-RAM), which is a variety of Non-Volatile Memory (NVM), has many advantages over SRAM, such as high density, low leakage power, and non-volatility, but it consumes too much writing energy. This study evaluated a wide range of energy consumptions of a two-level cache using NVM partially on a mobile processor. Through a number of experimental evaluations, it was confirmed that the use of NVM partially in the two-level cache effectively reduces energy consumption significantly.