Improve chip performance without process advances

Q: Improve chip performance without process advances

This is a Software Engineering Fundamentals interview question from Apple for Software Engineer roles. View the full question and solution on PracHub.

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Question

Assume you are working on a digital chip, but the semiconductor process node and basic device technology are fixed: there is no new, faster process and no major circuit-level innovation available.

Your team still wants higher performance (higher maximum clock frequency or more operations per second).

What kinds of changes can you make at the architecture, micro-architecture, and logic levels to improve performance under these constraints?
How do these changes typically trade off performance, power, and area (PPA)?
Using a 32-bit adder as an example, compare a simple ripple-carry adder to a faster mux-select (e.g., carry-select) adder:
- How do their delays scale with bit-width?
- How do their areas differ?
- In what scenarios would you choose each design?

Improve chip performance without process advances

Solution

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