Register File Criticality and Compiler Optimization Effects on Embedded Microprocessor Reliability

In this paper, we investigate the impact of register file errors in modern embedded microprocessors reliability through fault-injection and heavy-ion experiments. Additionally, we evaluate how different levels of compiler optimization modify the usage and failure probability of a processor register file. We select six representative benchmarks, each one compiled with three different levels of compiler optimization. We performed exhaustive fault-injection campaigns to measure the register's architectural vulnerability factor of each code and configuration, identifying the registers that are more likely to generate silent data corruption or single event functional interruption. Moreover, we correlate the observed reliability variations with register file utilization. Finally, we irradiated with heavy ions two of the selected benchmarks compiled with two levels of optimization, and correlated experimental results with fault-injection analysis.