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News Release from: MIPS Technologies | Subject: Hard core 4Kc and 4Km
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 12 April 2001
TSMC delivers hard core processors for
MIPS fans
MIPS Technologies has announced the availability of "hard core" versions of its MIPS32 4Kc and 4Km 32bit processor cores.
MIPS Technologies has announced the availability of "hard core" versions of its MIPS32 4Kc and 4Km 32bit processor cores These high-performance, low-power hard cores are the result of a broad strategic alliance announced last year with the world's largest dedicated semiconductor foundry TSMC to produce optimised cores
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 23 Feb 2001 at 8.00am (UK)
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The MIPS32 4K hard cores are ideal for semiconductor manufacturers and system OEMs trying to meet the demands of the high-growth consumer electronics and communications markets.
These companies not only require high performance, low power dissipation and low cost, but also face enormous competitive pressures and shorter product life cycles.
The quickest way to get a product to market is to license a process-optimised hard core from MIPS Technologies, which can be easily implemented in an SoC design.
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Benefits include lower development costs, less risk and faster time-to-market, as well as the ability to reuse the design for subsequent generations of the end product.
"Faster time-to-market, lower development costs and design reuse are now a reality for a very large and fast-growing market", said Brian Knowles, vice president of marketing at MIPS Technologies.
"With TSMC 0.18-micron foundry-optimised cores, we now make it possible for any TSMC customer to license a core from MIPS Technologies for integration into their SoC designs quickly and cost-efficiently.
Combined with our other licensing options - including synthesisable versions of all of our cores for more customised solutions - and hundreds of development tools from leading third-party vendors, we continue to solidify our position as the leader in 32 and 64bit embedded RISC solutions".
The MIPS32 4K family of cores provides a high-performance, low-power, 32bit RISC processor platform in a range of price/performance options.
Features of the 4Kc hard core include: 16K instruction and data caches; a TLB memory management unit; a fast multiply/divide unit with single-cycle MAC instructions; 32 general-purpose registers; and gated clocks for reduced power consumption.
Using TSMC's 0.18-micron CL018G process, the die size of the 4Kc, including the caches, is less than 7mm2.
Power consumption is less than 2mW/MHz, and typical performance is over 200MHz, delivering over 280DMIPS performance.
The 4Kc hard core is available now on a per-use basis in GDSII format with supporting models.
The MIPS32 4Km hard core, optimised for TSMC's 0.18-micron CL018G process, has been designed to provide optimum performance at an affordable price.
Features include:?8K instruction and data caches; a fixed address translation memory management unit; a fast multiply/divide unit with single-cycle MAC instructions; 32 general-purpose registers; and gated clocks for reduced power consumption.
Using the TSMC 0.18-micron process, the die size of the 4Km, including caches, is less than 4.7mm2.
It consumes less than 1.7mW/MHz and performance typically exceeds 200MHz, delivering over 280DMIPS performance.
The 4Km hard core in GDSII format will be available in May 2001.
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