Faster Low-Power Chips Coming
Example: StrongARM SA-2 core (per Intel talk at 5/4/99 Embedded Processor Forum):
- process: 0.18um, Ft = 46 GHz, 6-metal, low-k dielectric
- architecture: 7,8-stage superpipelined
- caches: 32k/32k (vs. 8k/16k on SA-1)
- core voltage scaling:
- 600MHz @ 1.3V (450mW) for 750 Dhrystone 2.1 MIPS (est.)
- 150MHz @ 0.75V (40mW)
- “drowsy” state: 100?W, quick wakeup (30?s PLL lock)