Register Files vs SRAMs

[ricksanchez]

what are the difference between a register file and an SRAM.
How can I decide which one is best suited for a design.
can we use register files for both single- port and 2-port memories ?

 

[FvM]

SRAM ist accessed via address bus, one storage location at a time (or two in case of dual port) RAM. Registers can be read in parallel. You are posting in the ASIC section, do your libraries have SRAM macros?

Assuming register refers to standard MS-DFF, it can't be used in true dual port (dual clock) applications.

 

[ricksanchez]

By register file I didn't mean MS-DFF .
I have 3 varients of the memory macros available from the memory compiler SRAM, ROM and register files .
The input/output ports and functionality of SRAM and Register file seems to be same.

 

[FvM]

Thanks. If the registers are wrapped as SRAM with address bus, I don't see a specific advantage of using registers.

 

[danadakk]

A comparison -

Difference Between Register and Memory (with Comparison Chart) - Tech Differences

Register and memory, hold the data that can be directly accessed by the processor which also increases the processing speed of CPU. The main and the basic difference between the register and memory is that the register is the holds the data that CPU is currently computing whereas, the memory...

techdifferences.com

Regards, Dana.

 

[ThisIsNotSam]

TSMC likes to call small fast memories "regfiles". They are still SRAM memories, just optimized for a different use case. They have single and dual port versions too.

 

[Fun-King]

By register file I didn't mean MS-DFF .
I have 3 varients of the memory macros available from the memory compiler SRAM, ROM and register files .
The input/output ports and functionality of SRAM and Register file seems to be same.

The bits cell are different.
Bits cell area: ROM < SRAM < Register
But some type of SRAM use register inside. These information can be found in user manual of memory compiler.

 

[Trent_N]

The register files have large memory cells compared with the small 6T memory cells. The register files do not use a sense amplifier which is large fixed silicon area overhead.
When you only need a small amount of memory the register file will be smaller and faster than the SRAM memory. When you need a large amount of memory the register file will be large and expensive.