Physical Design of UET-RVMCU: A Streamlined Open-Source RISC-V Microcontroller
This provides an accessible open-source microcontroller for embedded systems developers, but it is incremental as it builds on existing designs.
The paper tackled the design of a lightweight RISC-V microcontroller by simplifying an existing application-class SoC, resulting in a feature-rich embedded system with low area and open-source implementation.
This paper presents the design and physical implementation of UET-RVMCU, a lightweight RISC-V microcontroller derived from the UETRV-PCore. Aimed at creating an accessible and flexible open-source RISC-V-based microcontroller, UET-RVMCU simplifies the application-class UETRV-PCore by reducing pipeline stages, removing MMU functionality, and integrating GPIO peripherals. The final GDSII layout was generated using an open-source RTL-to-GDS flow (OpenLane). This project demonstrates the feasibility of transforming an application-class SoC into a feature-rich microcontroller suitable for embedded systems, emphasizing low area, design simplicity, and open-source development.