High performance VLSI processor architectures

Single-chip processor performance has improved dramatically since the inception of the four-bit microprocessor in 1971. This is due in part to technological advances (i.e., faster devices and greater device density), but also because of the adoption of architectural approaches well suited to the opportunities and limitations of VLSI. These approaches reduce off-chip memory accesses and admit of a regular pipelined implementation. They are good features of an architecture for VLSl implementation, whether or not the instruction set is "reduced.