TAM16: 16-bit Microcontroller IP core
Tiempo clockless 16-bit microcontroller core – TAM16 – offers a complete instruction set with adapted software development kit for ultra-low power applications. This IP is designed in Tiempo fully asynchronous and delay insensitive technology that allows ultra-low power consumption, ultra-low noise, ultra-low EMI, as well as robustness against attacks by power analysis & fault injections.
TAM16 instruction set can be easily customized in order to make it binary-compatible with any customer proprietary microcontroller, allowing the (re)use of customer preferred SDKs -standard or proprietary- with TAM16 and consequently the execution of existing code on TAM16.
Key benefits
- Ultra low power consumption: low energy (divide by 4 to 5), low current peaks (divide by 10 to 15)
- Ultra low noise, ultra low electromagnetic emission (EMI/EMC)
- Easy-programmable, fast and energy-efficient interrupt management & peripheral communications
- Fast wake-up time (< 5 ns), immediate sleep-mode
- High robustness against any PVT (process, voltage, temperature) variation
- High robustness against attacks by power analysis and fault injections (for secured applications)
Key features
- 16-bit microcontroller core with power-efficient instruction set
- Software development kit (with assembler, linker, instruction set simulator and debugger)
- Embedded peripherals including:
- 1 UART
- 3 Cascadable Timers
- Interrupt Controller for vectorized interrupt handling
- 16-bit Programmable Input/Output (PIO)
- Boot pins for boot configurations
- Two memory interfaces:
- An interface for third-party standard ROM and RAM, with memory redundancy module to replace faulty RAM pages
- An interface for the peripheral memory space, allowing for synchronized and non-synchronized communications
- Fully asynchronous (no clock) and delay insensitive (functional correctness guaranteed regardless of any actual delay in internal gates and wires)
- Available as Verilog netlist[1] ready for Place & Route (silicon-proven netlist)
- As an option: Verilog netlist[1] secured against attacks by power analysis and fault injection
- As an option: Verilog netlist[1] strengthened for ultra low noise, ultra low EMI
Electrical characteristics
Measurements below were performed on the TAM16 test-chip designed and processed in a general-purpose CMOS 130 nm technology.
| Supply voltage range | 0.7V | 1.2V |
|---|---|---|
| Execution speed (MIPS) | 7.1 | 15.5 |
| Core consumption (µA/MIPS) | 33.4 | 49 |
Applications
Targeted applications are ultra-low power chips for embedded electronics, e.g. power management chips, sensor networks, metering devices, RFID, smartcards, but also chips that must operate with low electromagnetic emissions, e.g. electronics for the automotive and the medical industries
[1]Please contact Tiempo for available libraries and technologies