Low-power processor licence boosts systems on chip

Low-power processor licence will see introduction of Flash-based microcontrollers

Atmel has licensed the ARM1176JZF-S processor for implementation in high-performance system-on-chip products.

"The licensing of the ARM1176JZF-S processor reinforces Atmel's long-term commitment to the ARM architecture as one of the industry standards for 32bit microcontrollers", says Alfredo Vadillo, Atmel's Managing Director for 32bit MCUs.

"We were one of the first licensees of the ARM7 processor family and have extended our partnership with ARM through the ARM9 processor family and now to the ARM11 processor family".

"Together with our proprietary AVR32 architecture, Atmel offers the industry's broadest range of 32bit Flash microcontroller-based system solutions".

"Atmel is a leading microcontroller vendor with an extensive portfolio of ARM technology-based devices featuring the ARM7 and ARM9 family processors", says John Cornish, VP Marketing, Processor Division, ARM.

"Atmel's decision to use the ARM1176JZF-S processor in future system-on-chip products highlights the importance of the fast growing 32bit market and the widespread adoption of the ARM architecture".

The ARM1176JZF-S core clocks at up to 620MHz in 90nm technology, while achieving a power consumption as low as 0.45mW/MHz.

It includes ARM TrustZone technology for enhanced security, ARM Jazelle technology for efficient embedded Java execution, and ARM Intelligent Energy Manager (IEM) technology that can reduce processor energy consumption by 25 to 50%.

ARM TrustZone technology provides support within the processor architecture for the trusted computing environments required to protect critical system functions from downloaded applications, copyright protection of downloaded media, and secure over-the-air system upgrades.

The ARM1176JZF-S also has an integrated floating-point coprocessor, which makes it particularly suitable for embedded 3D-graphics applications.

The core runs the ARMv6 instruction set with media processing extensions and the Thumb instruction set extensions for compact code.

It is fully upward code-compatible with Atmel's existing licensed cores, the ARM7TDMI and the ARM926EJ-S processors.

Atmel, a member of the ARM Connected Community, has also licensed the PrimeCell high-performance AMBA 3 AXI interconnect technology (PL301), along with the AMBA Designer tool, for a next-generation on-chip bus development.

Atmel's first system-on-chip products based on the ARM1176JZF-S processor will be available 4Q 2007.

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