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ARM6 µarch
General Info
Arch Type	CPU
Designer	ARM Holdings
Manufacturer	VLSI Technology, GEC-Plessey Semiconductors, Sharp
Introduction	1993
Process	0.8 µm
Core Configs	1
Pipeline
Type	Scalar, Pipelined
Stages	3
Decode	1-way
Instructions
ISA	ARMv3
Cache
L1 Cache	4 KiB/core 64-way set associative
Succession
ARM3 ARM7

ARM6 is an ARM microarchitecture designed by ARM Holdings and introduced in 1993 as a successor to the ARM3. This was the first design by ARM as an independent company after being spun-off from Acorn Computers.

History

See also: ARM's History

Following ARM's incorporation in November 1990 after being spun-off from Acorn Computers, ARM continued to develop the ARM microprocessor. In 1993 ARM introduced the ARM6 MacroCell, a substantial improvement over the previous ARM3 microarchitecture. The same year ARM signed with a number of additional licensees beyond VLSI Technology, including Sharp and GEC-Plessey.

The popularity of the ARM6 can be largely attributed to Apple's adaptation of the processor in their Newton PDAs.

Process Technology

See also: 0.8 µm process

The ARM6 was implemented on a 0.8 µm CMOS process.

Architecture

The ARM6 microarchitecture (MacroCell) was used for the ARM60, ARM600, and the ARM610. The ARM250 borrowed much of the architecture but used an ARM3 core instead.

Key changes from ARM3

• 32-bit address space (from 26-bit)
  • Can map 4 GiB of memory
  • CPSR & SPSR moved out of the program counter
  • Their own separate registers
• New Modes
  • Abort (abt)
  • Undefined (und)
• Virtual memory
  • Integrated MMU
• Write Buffer

New instructions

New ARM6 instructions:

Movement:

• MRS - Move from register to CPSR/SPSR
• MSR - Move from CPSR/SPSR to register

Memory Hierarchy

• Cache
  • L1 Cache (unified)
    • 4 KiB, 64-way set associative
    • 16 B line size
    • Write-through policy
    • Per core
• System DRAM
  • Up to 4 GiB

Overview

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Die

ARM6 MacroCell

• 3.1 mm x 1.9 mm
• 5.89 mm² die size
• 54 mW @ 20 MHz @ 3 Volt
• 0.8 µm CMOS
• 35,530 transistors

ARM610

• 26.45 mm² die size
• 358,931 transistors
• TQFP-144

All ARM6 Chips

	List of ARM6-based Processors
Model	Manufacturer	Core	Launched	Frequency	Power Dissipation	Max Memory
VY86C060	VLSI Technology	ARM60	1993	20 MHz 0.02 GHz 20,000 kHz , 25 MHz 0.025 GHz 25,000 kHz		4 GiB 4,096 MiB 4,194,304 KiB 4,294,967,296 B 0.00391 TiB
VY86C06020	VLSI Technology	ARM60	1994	20 MHz 0.02 GHz 20,000 kHz		4 GiB 4,096 MiB 4,194,304 KiB 4,294,967,296 B 0.00391 TiB
VY86C06040	VLSI Technology	ARM60	1994	40 MHz 0.04 GHz 40,000 kHz		4 GiB 4,096 MiB 4,194,304 KiB 4,294,967,296 B 0.00391 TiB
VY86C060A	VLSI Technology	ARM60	1994	33 MHz 0.033 GHz 33,000 kHz		4 GiB 4,096 MiB 4,194,304 KiB 4,294,967,296 B 0.00391 TiB
VY86C061	VLSI Technology	ARM60	1993	20 MHz 0.02 GHz 20,000 kHz , 25 MHz 0.025 GHz 25,000 kHz		4 GiB 4,096 MiB 4,194,304 KiB 4,294,967,296 B 0.00391 TiB
VY86C610	VLSI Technology	ARM610	1993	20 MHz 0.02 GHz 20,000 kHz , 25 MHz 0.025 GHz 25,000 kHz		4 GiB 4,096 MiB 4,194,304 KiB 4,294,967,296 B 0.00391 TiB
VY86C610C	VLSI Technology	ARM610	23 July 1994	33 MHz 0.033 GHz 33,000 kHz	0.5 W 500 mW 6.705e-4 hp 5.0e-4 kW	4 GiB 4,096 MiB 4,194,304 KiB 4,294,967,296 B 0.00391 TiB
Count: 7

References

• Muller, Mike. "ARM6: a high performance low power consumption macrocell." Compcon Spring'93, Digest of Papers.. IEEE, 1993.
• Licensees, Welcomes New. "ARM Semiconductor Welcomes New Licensees." Microelectronics Journal 24.7 (1993): 7.