ARM announce 28nm Cortex-A9

ARM today announced the availability of the ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore Processor Optimization Pack (POP) for GlobalFoundries’ 28 nm-SLP High-K Metal Gate process technology. Optimized for mobile, networking and enterprise applications, the energy-efficient ARM POP 28 nm-SLP for Cortex-A9 processors delivers a performance range from 1 GHz to 1.6 GHz for worst case conditions, with up to 2 GHz in typical conditions. This provides a wide range of flexibility for System-on-Chip (SoC) designers to optimize performance and energy-efficiency using the Cortex-A9 “POP”.

“GlobalFoundries’ 28 nm Super Low-Power (SLP) platform is designed for power-sensitive mobile and consumer applications, and is based on the company’s production-proven 32/28 nm HKMG technology. ARM already supports the GlobalFoundries 28 nm-SLP process with a comprehensive Artisan Physical IP Platform. This includes process tuned 9 track and 12 track multi-Vt standard cell libraries, power management kits, ECO kits, ARM Artisan high-density and high-performance optimized memory compilers, as well GPIO through the ARM DesignStart online IP access portal.

ARM POPs include three critical elements necessary to achieve an optimized ARM core implementation. First, it contains Artisan Physical IP logic libraries and memory instances that are specifically tuned for a given ARM core and process technology. This Physical IP is developed through a tightly coupled collaboration with ARM Processor Division engineers in an iterative process to identify the optimal results. Second, it includes a comprehensive benchmarking report to document the exact conditions and results ARM achieved for the core implementation. Finally, it includes a POP Implementation Guide that details the methodology used to achieve the result, to enable the end customer to achieve the same implementation quickly and at low risk.”

Source: PR