Samsung’s new multi-core quad-core heterogeneous chip will be made
using 28nm HKMG process technology and will be aimed at high-performance
and energy-efficient mobile applications. The official details about
the new chip, which will likely carry Exynos brand, will be revealed at
ISSCC 2013. What remains to be seen is whether the new system-on-chip
will have four cores in total (or two clusters with two Cortex-A15 cores
per one cluster and two Cortex-A7 cores per another cluster), or eight
cores (or two clusters with four Cortex-A15 cores per one cluster and
four Cortex-A7 core per another cluster).
One of today’s technology most significant challenges is how to
create a system-on-chip (SoC) that meets the conflicting consumer demand
for devices with both higher-performance and extended battery life.
ARM’s Big.Little processing approach achieves this by pairing the best
of the high-performance ARM Cortex-A15 MPCore and ultra-efficient ARM
Cortex-A7 processors. Big.Little processing combines two different, but
compatible processors within the same SoC and allows the power
management software to seamlessly select the right processor, or
multiple processors, for the right task. The efficient and seamless
switching of workloads between the two processors is supported by
advanced ARM system IP, such as AMBA 4 ACE coherency extensions, which
ensures full cache, I/O and processor-to-processor coherency between the
Cortex-A15 and Cortex-A7, and across the complete system. Software and
applications can therefore continue to run unhindered, and unnoticed by
the user, as the tasks are rebalanced to provide the optimum Big.Little
user experience.