GlobalFoundries has successfully taped-out a qualification vehicle based on ARM’s Cortex-A9 dual-core processor.
According to GloFo senior VP Mojy Chian, the Technology Qualification Vehicle (TQV) will allow the fabulous fab to optimize its 28nm HKMG process for customer designs based on ARM’s next-gen chip.
“This is a significant milestone on the road to high-volume 28nm manufacturing and technology leadership for next-generation products ranging from smart mobile devices to high-performance wired applications,” explained Chian.
“By working closely with ARM in the early stages of technology qualification, we will enable our customers to rapidly bring their ARM Cortex-A9 designs with ARM physical IP to production by setting a new standard for performance and power-efficiency.”
Indeed, TG Daily was told that the TQV design employs a fully optimized ARM Cortex-A9 physical IP suite, including a complete range of standard cell libraries, high-speed cache memory macros for L1 and density-optimized memories in other areas.
In addition, the TQV is designed to emulate a product-like system-on-chip (SoC) in “every way,” which allows for maximum frequency analysis and short turnaround time between design cycles.
Finally, a complete range of Design for Testability (DFT) features enables Silicon-Spice correlation of Cortex-A9 critical paths and bit-mapping of cache memories at gigahertz speed.
Both ARM and GlobalFoundries project that the new chip manufacturing platform will enable a 40 percent increase in computing performance, a 30 percent decrease in power consumption and a 100 percent increase in standby battery life when compared to its 40nm predecessor.
