(trās kash) (n.) An instructioncache in a microprocessor that stores dynamic instruction sequences after they have been fetched and executed in order to follow the instructions at subsequent times without needing to return to the regular cache or the memory for the same instruction sequence. An advantage of the trace cache is it reduces the required fetch bandwidth on the processing pipeline.
Exploring the Trace Cache Design Space This report investigates a number of design issues of the trace cache, proposes an approach to enhance the performance of trace caches, and conducts experiments to determine its effectiveness. (pdf)
