Intel® Atom™ - What’s inside |
| By Magnus Fritzson, Market Communications Manager at Hectronic AB |
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At first when the Intel® Atom™ processor was released there was a lot of skepticism among customers. Intel® Atom™ offers X86 performance in an ultra-compact package in the sub 5 watt region with no need for bulky coolers.
Let’s take a look at what’s inside the Intel® Atom™ processor with the help from Neil Stroud, Field Applications Engineer at Intel® Sweden AB. He describes the look on the customer’s faces as the message sunk in.
“You almost see the wheels start turning in their mind. It’s really nice to see that in a customer,” he says.
The decidedly most important leap forward from the introduction of the Intel® Atom™ processor is the 45nm process technology, the method used in production. Intel® has progressed from 90nm to 65nm and now down to 45nm. Even at 65nm volume production is not easy.
“The gate insulation on the substrate is only five or six atoms thick. Manufacturing you can imagine is quite challenging.” |
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Introducing the 45nm process technology |
The introduction of new materials made 45nm possible. The combination of hafnium-based high-conductivity gate dielectrics and new metal materials for the gate brings several advantages.
“It brings increased transistor switching speed so you can increase the frequency of the device, it reduces the leakage and capacitance,” says Stroud. “It’s a huge step
forward.” |
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| 45nm Atom processors are based on transistors with Hafnium-based high-k metal gate silicon technology. |
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Clever processor functionality further reduces power consumption. The front side bus, FSB connects the processor and the chipset. Until now Intel® has used GTL-technology in the FSB. The relatively low bus speed allowed a technology exchange to save power.
“It’s either 400MHz or 533MHz so we were able to go back to CMOS technology and it’s a huge saving in power.”
The FSBs power consumption was reduced from 250mW to 35mW. Cache management is another means for reduction of power consumption. Cache memory takes up a large part of the silicon die and consumes power accordingly.
“There are a lot of control functions that automatically monitor and manage the cache resource. Cache not used can be shut down for example.” |
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Balancing power savings and start-up time |
Power management functions allow the processor to run in less active states, less power consumption being the benefit. The drawback is that the processor needs time to start up when full performance is required.
Power management is not new in itself, but the C6 state is. It’s also called ”Deeper sleep”. C6 reduces power consumption by 90%. Full speed can be reached instantly.
“When you hit the wake-up button on your mobile Internet device it’s on in a hundred microseconds. So that’s instant as far as I’m concerned,” says Stroud. |
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| Mobile Internet device concept by ASUS based on Intel's Centrino® Atom™ processor technology platform. |
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Internet access in mobile devices was a key-area for the Atom™ processor to target. Internet access in existing mobile devices suffered from limitations in the processors used.
“We know today that if you take your smartphone and try to do certain things on the web it’s just not possible.” |
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Atom™ in the embedded space |
The Intel® Atom™ processor had to meet specific requirements to offer improved Internet access to mobile devices. It had to be small to fit in handheld devices. It couldn’t be dependant on bulky coolers for heat dissipation. The battery had to last for more than a couple of hours, preferably a full work-day.
That set of requirements is interesting to the embedded segment as well. Neil Stroud mentions automotive as one of the promising embedded areas for Intel® Atom™. A typical application would be in-vehicle infotainment systems using for instance DVD, GPS and wireless communication technology. At least one requirement is added by the typical embedded customer.
“So that’s the reason why we support Intel® Atom™ for a seven year life-time.”
Customers using a none-X86 processor in their low-end product offer and X86 in the high-end benefit from Intel® Atom™. Resources can be saved in software development using a single processor family throughout the product line. |
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Accessing the X86 eco system |
The step is somewhat bigger to take for customers with no prior experience in developing with an X86 processor. The great number of third party hardware and software in the X86 eco systems may compensate for the fear of an initially steep learning curve.
“If you look at the open source environment for instance, it’s hugely supported and that’s an important factor to customers we’ve been finding out in discussions.”
The Intel® Atom™ processor is expected to stimulate the development of new form factors for COM modules. Neil Stroud mentions Qseven as an example and he believes that there are more form factors to come targeting handheld, ultra-compact products with extended computing performance.
New small form factors introduce the semi-custom strategy, using a ready-made COM module and custom designed carrier board, to new groups of customers.
“I believe that the Intel® Atom™ processor has opened up new segments to us which traditionally were not COM module type targets.”
Neil Stroud enjoys the revitalization Intel® Atom™ has brought with it ever since it’s been launched. A lot has happened during the 15 years he has been working in the business but nothing with this big an impact on the his day-to-day work
“No absolutely not, not as big as this.” |
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 | Intel® Atom™ processor package with a U.S. penny. |
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