diff --git a/esp-hal-common/src/interrupt/riscv.rs b/esp-hal-common/src/interrupt/riscv.rs
index ba4bdc75cfd..a8a4042aea5 100644
--- a/esp-hal-common/src/interrupt/riscv.rs
+++ b/esp-hal-common/src/interrupt/riscv.rs
@@ -166,6 +166,42 @@ mod vectored {
         }
     }
 
+    /// Similar to [intrinsics::cttz], except we are able to place the lookup
+    /// table in SRAM
+    #[link_section = ".rwtext"]
+    fn ctz(n: u128) -> u32 {
+        // this isn't quite what LLVM does, they lower cttz to `ctpop(~X & (X-1))`,
+        // which use some kind of binary-search-like-algorithm plus a lookup
+        // table
+        #[inline(always)]
+        fn ctz32(n: u32) -> u32 {
+            // cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Find_first_set#CTZ
+            #[link_section = ".data"]
+            static TABLE: [u8; 32] = {
+                let mut t = [0u8; 32];
+                let mut i = 0;
+                while i < 32 {
+                    t[((0x077CB531_u32.wrapping_mul(1 << i)) >> 27) as usize] = i;
+                    i += 1;
+                }
+                t
+            };
+
+            let n = n & (n as i32).wrapping_neg() as u32; // isolate lowest 1 bit
+            TABLE[(n.wrapping_mul(0x077CB531) >> 27) as usize] as u32
+        }
+
+        let n = n.to_ne_bytes();
+        let (n, _) = n.as_chunks::<4>();
+        for (i, b) in n.iter().enumerate() {
+            let n = u32::from_ne_bytes(*b);
+            if n != 0 {
+                return ctz32(n) + i as u32 * 32;
+            }
+        }
+        u128::BITS
+    }
+
     /// Get the interrupts configured for the core
     #[inline]
     fn get_configured_interrupts(_core: Cpu, mut status: u128) -> [u128; 16] {
@@ -173,7 +209,7 @@ mod vectored {
             let mut prios = [0u128; 16];
 
             while status != 0 {
-                let interrupt_nr = status.trailing_zeros() as u16;
+                let interrupt_nr = ctz(status) as u16;
                 // safety: cast is safe because of repr(u16)
                 let cpu_interrupt: CpuInterrupt =
                     get_assigned_cpu_interrupt(core::mem::transmute(interrupt_nr as u16));
@@ -220,9 +256,9 @@ mod vectored {
 
         let configured_interrupts = get_configured_interrupts(crate::get_core(), status);
         let mut interrupt_mask =
-            status & configured_interrupts[INTERRUPT_TO_PRIORITY[cpu_intr as usize - 1]];
+            status & configured_interrupts[interrupt_to_priority(cpu_intr as usize)];
         while interrupt_mask != 0 {
-            let interrupt_nr = interrupt_mask.trailing_zeros();
+            let interrupt_nr = ctz(interrupt_mask);
             // Interrupt::try_from can fail if interrupt already de-asserted:
             // silently ignore
             if let Ok(interrupt) = peripherals::Interrupt::try_from(interrupt_nr as u8) {
@@ -232,7 +268,7 @@ mod vectored {
         }
     }
 
-    #[ram]
+    #[inline(always)]
     unsafe fn handle_interrupt(interrupt: Interrupt, save_frame: &mut TrapFrame) {
         extern "C" {
             // defined in each hal
@@ -606,6 +642,11 @@ mod classic {
     use super::{CpuInterrupt, InterruptKind, Priority};
     use crate::Cpu;
 
+    #[inline(always)]
+    pub(super) const fn interrupt_to_priority(irq: usize) -> usize {
+        irq
+    }
+
     pub(super) const PRIORITY_TO_INTERRUPT: [usize; 15] =
         [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15];
 
diff --git a/esp-hal-common/src/lib.rs b/esp-hal-common/src/lib.rs
index 749170f04bc..8b006146837 100644
--- a/esp-hal-common/src/lib.rs
+++ b/esp-hal-common/src/lib.rs
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@
     feature(impl_trait_projections)
 )]
 #![doc(html_logo_url = "https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/46717278")]
+#![feature(const_mut_refs)]
+#![feature(slice_as_chunks)]
 
 #[cfg(riscv)]
 pub use esp_riscv_rt::{self, entry, riscv};
@@ -167,6 +169,7 @@ pub enum Cpu {
     AppCpu,
 }
 
+#[inline(always)]
 pub fn get_core() -> Cpu {
     #[cfg(all(xtensa, multi_core))]
     match ((xtensa_lx::get_processor_id() >> 13) & 1) != 0 {
diff --git a/esp32c3-hal/.cargo/config.toml b/esp32c3-hal/.cargo/config.toml
index 922b77a223d..3722ba6b532 100644
--- a/esp32c3-hal/.cargo/config.toml
+++ b/esp32c3-hal/.cargo/config.toml
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
 runner = "espflash flash --monitor"
 rustflags = [
   "-C", "link-arg=-Tlinkall.x",
+  "-C", "force-frame-pointers",
+
+  "-C", "llvm-args=--max-jump-table-size=0",
 
   # comment the cfgs below if you do _not_ wish to emulate atomics.
   # enable the atomic codegen option for RISCV
diff --git a/esp32c3-hal/Cargo.toml b/esp32c3-hal/Cargo.toml
index 3f13776c4e8..300b2849aa8 100644
--- a/esp32c3-hal/Cargo.toml
+++ b/esp32c3-hal/Cargo.toml
@@ -65,10 +65,13 @@ embassy-time-timg0 = ["esp-hal-common/embassy-time-timg0", "embassy-time/tick-hz
 interrupt-preemption = ["esp-hal-common/interrupt-preemption"]
 
 [profile.dev]
-opt-level = 1
+opt-level = 2
+lto = "thin"
 
 [profile.release]
 debug = true
+opt-level = 2
+lto = "thin"
 
 [[example]]
 name              = "spi_eh1_loopback"
@@ -101,3 +104,6 @@ required-features = ["embassy", "async"]
 [[example]]
 name              = "embassy_i2c"
 required-features = ["embassy", "async"]
+
+[patch.crates-io]
+esp32c3 = { git = "https://github.com/rustbox/esp-pacs", rev = "c8e7cbb1cef4f6b3fd565c8fbb30e37674657877" }
diff --git a/esp32c3-hal/examples/gpio_interrupt.rs b/esp32c3-hal/examples/gpio_interrupt.rs
index 880af13882f..5ac9a434b65 100644
--- a/esp32c3-hal/examples/gpio_interrupt.rs
+++ b/esp32c3-hal/examples/gpio_interrupt.rs
@@ -75,9 +75,15 @@ fn main() -> ! {
 }
 
 #[interrupt]
+#[ram]
 fn GPIO() {
     critical_section::with(|cs| {
-        esp_println::println!("GPIO interrupt");
+        // can't use println! here, because it delegates to `core::write!` which in turn
+        // is opaquely "stuck" in Flash
+        {
+            use core::fmt::Write;
+            (esp_println::Printer).write_str("GPIO interrupt\n").ok();
+        }
         BUTTON
             .borrow_ref_mut(cs)
             .as_mut()
diff --git a/esp32c3-hal/ld/db-riscv-link.x b/esp32c3-hal/ld/db-riscv-link.x
index 9a8370dd511..401ba3c3d4b 100644
--- a/esp32c3-hal/ld/db-riscv-link.x
+++ b/esp32c3-hal/ld/db-riscv-link.x
@@ -55,8 +55,6 @@ SECTIONS
     KEEP(*(.init.rust));
     KEEP(*(.text.abort));
     . = ALIGN(4);
-    KEEP(*(.trap));
-    KEEP(*(.trap.rust));
 
     *(.text .text.*);
     _etext = .;
@@ -91,6 +89,8 @@ SECTIONS
   _data_size = _data_end - _data_start + 8;
   .rwtext ORIGIN(REGION_RWTEXT) + _data_size : AT(_text_size + _rodata_size + _data_size){
     _srwtext = .;
+    KEEP(*(.trap));
+    KEEP(*(.trap.rust));
     *(.rwtext);
     . = ALIGN(4);
     _erwtext = .;
diff --git a/esp32c3-hal/src/lib.rs b/esp32c3-hal/src/lib.rs
index 5bd1fbcef9b..8c218846b72 100644
--- a/esp32c3-hal/src/lib.rs
+++ b/esp32c3-hal/src/lib.rs
@@ -16,6 +16,46 @@ pub mod analog {
     pub use esp_hal_common::analog::{AvailableAnalog, SarAdcExt};
 }
 
+mod mem {
+    #[no_mangle]
+    #[link_section = ".rwtext"]
+    pub unsafe extern "C" fn memcpy(dest: *mut u8, src: *const u8, n: usize) -> *mut u8 {
+        let r = dest;
+        let (n, m) = (n / 4, n % 4);
+        for i in 0..m {
+            *dest.add(i) = *src.add(i);
+        }
+        let dest = dest.add(m).cast::<usize>();
+        let src = src.add(m).cast::<usize>();
+        for i in 0..n {
+            *dest.add(i) = *src.add(i);
+        }
+        r
+    }
+
+    #[no_mangle]
+    #[link_section = ".rwtext"]
+    pub unsafe extern "C" fn memset(
+        p: *mut u8,
+        c: i32, // equivalent to a c int
+        n: usize,
+    ) -> *mut u8 {
+        let s = p;
+        let (n, m) = (n / 4, n % 4);
+        let b = c as u8;
+        for i in 0..m {
+            *p.add(i) = b
+        }
+        let p = p.add(m).cast::<usize>();
+
+        let w = usize::from_ne_bytes([b; 4]);
+        for i in 0..n {
+            *p.add(i) = w;
+        }
+        s
+    }
+}
+
 extern "C" {
     cfg_if::cfg_if! {
         if #[cfg(feature = "mcu-boot")] {