Faraday implements ultra small ARM926EJ-S hard core in UMC 0.13um process
(Technology News, 03 Apr 2007 )
Faraday Technology Corporation has implemented the ARM926EJ-S hard core in UMC 0.13um process. It features ultra small size of 3.4mm2 (16KB/16KB I/D cache sizes) and extremely low power consumption with high performance which could reach 300MHz. Faraday also provides companion peripheral IPs, development platform for ARM926EJ-S to fulfill the market needs and accelerate the customer's design cycle. The hard core of ARM926EJ-S in UMC 0.13um is available now, and 90nm will be ready in Q2, 2007.
Announced in 1998, the ARM9 architecture has become the most widely used CPU cores for System-On-Chip (SOC) solutions ranging from cell phones, PDAs, digital cameras, to audio/video platforms. The ARM926 EJ-S makes several important enhancements, and among other things makes it possible for multiple ARM926 CPUs to work in a single system. As application software sophistication continues, the die size, performance, and power consumption becomes the biggest differentiations.
Based on well versed synthesis skill, physical design and verification expertise, Faraday achieved the optimized performance, area and power consumption ARM926EJ-S hardcore and successfully delivered it in a very short period. Just as one example, Faraday is able to customize the development of cache memory, a critical factor in any microprocessor performance. As a result, the Faraday's ARM926 EJ-S is only 3.4 mm2 in size, and over 300 MHz in speed, compared to published TSMC offering, which is over 5 mm2 in size, and merely 240 MHz in speed.
