Cortex-A9 speed limits and PPA optimization

Cortex-A9 speed limits and PPA optimization
by Don Dingee on 12-19-2012 at 3:01 pm

We know by now that clock speeds aren’t everything when it comes to measuring the goodness of a processor. Performance has direct ties to pipeline and interconnect details, power factors into considerations of usability, and the unspoken terms of yield drive cost.

My curiosity kicked in when I looked at the recent press release… Read More


40 Billion Smaller Things On The Clock

40 Billion Smaller Things On The Clock
by Don Dingee on 08-15-2012 at 8:00 pm

Big processors get all the love, it seems. It’s natural, since they are highly complex beasts and need a lot of care and feeding in the EDA and fab cycle. But the law of large numbers is starting to shift energy in the direction of optimizing microcontrollers.

I mulled the math in my head for a while. In a world with 7 billion people and … Read More


Making your ARMs POP

Making your ARMs POP
by Paul McLellan on 04-16-2012 at 6:30 am

Just in time for TSMC’s technology symposium (tomorrow) ARM have announced a whole portfolio of new Processor Optimization Packs (POPs) for TSMC 40nm and 28nm. For most people, me included, my first question was ‘What is a POP?’

A POP is three things:

  • physical IP
  • certified benchmarking
  • implementation knowledge
Read More