Xilinx puts seven ARM cores on 16nm finfet SoC

Xilinx has integrated three ARM processors with seven cores on its latest Zynq programmable system-on-chip device.

The programmable device, which is part of the company’s latest 16nm finfet ultraScale+ family of FPGAs, combines a 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor with a dual-core Cortex-R5 real-time processor for deterministic operation and a Mali-400MP graphics processor.

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For good-measure there is also an H.265 video codec unit, along with support for Displayport, MIPI and HDMI.

The UltraScale+ architecture improves on the generation with integrated SRAM for faster memory access and a new optimised on-chip interconnect fabric.

It will also be introduced in Kintex and Virtex FPGAs fabbed on TSMC’s 16FF+ FinFET process.

According to Giles Peckham European marketing director, Xilinx, the new architecture will deliver “2–5 times the system level performance/watt over 28nm devices, as well as offering greater integration and high levels of security and safety.”

According to Peckham one of the applications for this level of performance in LTE Advanced and early 5G wireless and in-car driver assistance systems.

The  dual-core ARM Cortex-R5 real-time processor can be used for deterministic operation, with low latency for the highest levels of safety and reliability.

A separate security unit enables military-class security solutions such as secure boot, key and vault management, and anti-tamper capabilities—standard requirements for machine-to-machine communication and industrial IoT applications.

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