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ARM250 µarch
General Info
Arch Type	CPU
Designer	ARM Holdings
Manufacturer	VLSI Technology
Introduction	1992
Process	1 µm
Core Configs	1
Pipeline
Type	Scalar, Pipelined
Stages	3
Decode	1-way
Instructions
ISA	ARMv2a
Cores
Core Names	ARM250
Succession
ARM3

ARM250 was a system on a chip microarchitecture that was introduced by ARM Holdings around the same time the ARM6 was introduced.

History

See also: ARM's History

With the development of the ARM6 and a process shrink by VTI, ARM took the opportunity to introduce the ARM250. The ARM250 is a very high integration chip - incorporating the ARM3 core along with most of the new MMU logic that was developed for the ARM6 along with all the support chips that were previously needed for the ARM3/2 - the MEMC chip (Memory Controller), VIDC chip (Video Controller), IOC/IOEB (I/O Controller).

Note that the added L1 cache found on the ARM3 is not found on the ARM250.

Process Technology

See also: 1 µm process

The ARM250 was implemented on a 1 µm double-level metal (DLM) CMOS process.

Architecture

The ARM250 doesn't introduce anything new in itself. The core is an ARM3 with the MMU logic taken from the ARM6 which was also released around the same time.

Key changes from ARM3

• Integrates support chips on-die
  • Integrated MEMC
  • Integrated VIDC
  • Integrated IOEB/IOC
• Virtual memory
  • Integrated MMU (ARM6's)

Block Diagram

Entire Chip

Core

(ARM3 core)

Die

• 1-micron process CMOS
• 2 metal layers
• 58 mm² die size
• 98,019 transistors
• $25 (for 100K quantities)
• PJQFP-160

References

• Muller, Mike. "ARM6: a high performance low power consumption macrocell." Compcon Spring'93, Digest of Papers.. IEEE, 1993.

Documents

• ARM250 Datasheet, August 11, 1992