Shanghai, China, March 14, 2012 - ARM today announced the ARM Cortex?-M0+ processor, a microprocessor with the world's lowest power efficiency. Supporting the ARMv6M instruction set, the optimized Cortex-M0+ processor provides ultra-low power, low-cost microcontrollers (MCUs) for a wide range of smart sensors and smart control systems for a wide range of applications, including home appliances, white goods, medical monitoring, electronic measurements, lighting devices, and power and automotive control devices.
ARM Cortex-M0+ processor lays the foundation for IoT development
As the newest member of the ARM Cortex processor family, the 32-bit Cortex-M0+ processor utilizes a low-cost, 90-nanometer low-power (LP) process that consumes only 9 μA/MHz, which is about one-third of the power consumption of a mainstream 8- or 16-bit processor. processors, yet delivering much higher performance.
This industry-leading combination of low power and high performance provides an ideal opportunity for those still using 8- or 16-bit architectures to transition to developing 32-bit devices that increase the intelligence of everyday devices without sacrificing power and area.
The features of the Cortex-M0+ processor have led to the introduction of smart, low-power microcontrollers that can efficiently communicate with, manage, and maintain the vast array of wirelessly connected devices in the Internet of Things.
Low-power networking capabilities have the potential to drive a wide range of energy-efficient and life-critical applications, from sensors that wirelessly analyze the performance and control of a home or office building, to battery-operated body sensors that wirelessly connect to health monitoring devices. Existing 8- or 16-bit microcontrollers (MCUs) lack sufficient intelligence and functionality to enable these applications.
Tom R. Halfhill, senior analyst at The Linley Group, a semiconductor industry research and consulting firm, and senior editor of the Microprocessor Report, said, "It is well known that the Internet of Things, with its ever-improving power efficiency, security and convenience, will ultimately change the world. From adaptive indoor lighting and online video gaming to smart sensors and motor control, ubiquitous network connectivity is good for almost everything. But enabling all of this requires extremely low-cost, low-power processors with good performance. the ARM Cortex-M0+ processor delivers powerful 32-bit performance in a lightweight chip for a wide range of industrial and consumer applications."
The ARM Cortex-M0+ processor is based on the silicon-proven, low-power Cortex-M0 processor, which has been successfully licensed and partnered with more than 50 licenses from leading semiconductor vendors, and re-engineered to include a number of important new features, including single-cycle IO to accelerate GPIOs and peripherals. GPIO) and peripheral access, improved debug and trace capabilities, second-order pipelining to reduce the number of clock cycles per instruction (CPI), and optimized flash memory access to further reduce power consumption.
The Cortex-M0+ processor not only continues the strengths of the easy-to-use, C programming model, but is also binary compatible with existing Cortex-M0 processor tools and real-time systems (RTOS). As a member of the Cortex-M processor family, the Cortex-M0+ processor also receives full support from the ARM Cortex-M ecosystem, and its software compatibility allows it to be easily ported to the higher performance Cortex-M3 or Cortex-M4 processors.
First to license Cortex-M0+ processors include Freescale Semiconductor and NXP Semiconductors.
Dr. Reza Kazerounian, senior vice president and general manager of Freescale's Automotive, Industrial and Multi-Market Solutions Division, said, "We are very pleased to strengthen our relationship with ARM as a key partner and to be the first to license the smallest and lowest power processor in the ARM Cortex-M family of products licensed. The new Cortex-M0+ processor-based products will make our fast-growing Kinetis microcontroller (MCU) product line one of the industry's most scalable portfolios based on the ARM Cortex architecture. or 16-bit architectures to transition to the latest Kinetis devices without sacrificing cost and ease of use."
Alexander Everke, executive vice president and general manager of NXP Semiconductors' High-Performance Mixed-Signal Business Unit, said, "NXP is the industry's only microcontroller (MCU) supplier to utilize the complete ARM Cortex-M processor family, and we are very excited to add the Cortex-M0+ processor to our portfolio. The Cortex-M0 processor portfolio has been successful in gaining market acceptance, with more than 70 device types shipping in volume today, and the latest Cortex-M0+ processor will further accelerate our entry into the 8-bit/16-bit market.
The Cortex-M0+ processor is another example of ARM's leadership in low power, and another example of its commitment to driving the industry towards lower power," said Mike Inglis, executive vice president and general manager of ARM's Processor Division. With our expertise in low-power technologies, we have worked closely with our partners to define new processors that will ensure support for today's low-cost devices while tapping into the potential benefits of the Internet of Things."
Related ARM Technical Support
The Cortex-M0+ processor is best suited with Artisan® seven-rail SC7 ultra-high-density standard cell libraries and power management kits (PMKs) to take full advantage of the processor's unprecedented low-power consumption.
The Cortex-M0+ processor is fully supported by the ARM Keil?Microcontroller Development Kit with integrated Keil µVision IDE, debugger and ARM assembly tools. Recognized as the world's most popular microcontroller development environment, the MDK and the ULINK debug adapter family support the new tracing capabilities of the Cortex-M0+ processor. With these tools, ARM's partners are able to gain the benefits of a tightly coupled application development environment and quickly understand the high performance and low power consumption of the Cortex-M0+ processor.
The processor also boasts support for a wide range of third-party tools and real-time systems (RTOS), including CodeSourcery, Code Red, Express Logic, IAR Systems, Mentor Graphics, Micrium and SEGGER.