Chapter 7 - The Diamond Standard Series 108Mini Processor Core

Abstract

The Diamond Standard Series 108Mini processor core is the smallest of the Diamond Standard Series processor cores. The processor consumes less than 0.5 mm2 of silicon and approximately 110 μW/MHz when implemented in a 130 nm, G-type (general purpose) process technology. Although the 108Mini processor core is physically small, it is still a full featured, 32-bit RISC processor that can run any program compiled by the Diamond Edition XCC C/C + + compiler, and it can run real-time operating systems (RTOSs) such as the Nucleus Plus RTOS from Accelerated Technology. The Diamond 108Mini suits the roles assigned to 8- and 16-bit controller cores but it brings many performance benefits of a 32-bit processor to bear on the designated tasks: large 4-Gbyte address space and 32-bit computations. The Diamond 108Mini processor core has a 32-bit version of the general purpose processor interface bus for global system-on-chip communications, but it is intended to be used as a control processor that executes code from local instruction memory and accesses data primarily from local data memories.