Freescale will demonstrate a pin-compatible die-shrink of its MPC7447A embedded processor at its developer conference in Orlando, Fla. this week. The PowerPC MPC7448 uses Freescale's 90nm SOI (silicon-on-insulator) CMOS process, said to reduce power while increasing clock and bus speeds. MPC74xx family processors appear in G4 Apple Macintoshes, but mainly target embedded applications such as networking and home entertainment devices.

The MPC7448 is based on an e600 PowerPC core expected to clock from 600MHz to 1.7 GHz, and draw less than 10 Watts at 1.4 GHz. Power management features include nap and sleep modes, and dynamic frequency switching.

The e600 PowerPC core includes includes 32KB each of instruction and data cache, along with 1MB of unified L2 cache. The MPX system bus runs at 200MHz. A 128-bit implementation of Freescale's “AltiVec” SIMD engine (single instruction, multiple data) accelerates typical networking functions, the company says, including security processing and routing, and 2D and 3D functions such as video playback and games.

MPC7448 block diagram
(Click to enlarge)
Freescale is currently sampling a general-purpose reference design that pairs the MPC7448 with Tundra's Tsi108 system controller. This design has been benchmarked by the EEMBC (Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium), where it performed well in various embedded benchmark tests running an RTOS (real-time operating system) from Green Hills.

Freescale says the MPC7448 is supported by Linux distributions from MontaVista, TimeSys, and Wind River, as well as CodeWarrior tools from Freescale subsidiary Metrowerks, among other tools suppliers.

Besides being pin-compatible with the earlier MPC74xx chips, the MPC7448 will offer a bridge to forthcoming dual-processor chips, Freescale says. Freescale's MPC8641D will use the same core, cache, and AltiVec implementation, enabling the same binaries to run on both chips without modification, Freescale claims.

Tom R. Halfhill, senior analyst at Microprocessor Report, said, “Freescale's new MPC7448 continues a tradition of steadily increasing the performance of PowerPC-based embedded processors while effectively managing power consumption. With its improved AltiVec throughput, 1MB L2 cache, and low-power characteristics, the MPC7448 lends itself to new applications beyond its traditional computing and networking markets.”

Ding Wei, COO of China-based media software company Hopen Software, said, “The AltiVec engine allows Hopen to provide support for a wide range of CODECs and support the evolving standards in the digital media space.”

David Perkins, GM of Freescale's Networking and Computing Systems group, said, “The MPC7448 PowerPC processor offers exceptional performance-per-Watt for compute-intensive applications, and by leveraging Linux OS in these applications, developers get maximum design flexibility.”

Availability

The MPC7448 began sampling in February, and is expected to ship in October, 2005, priced at $100 in 10K quantities for a 1GHz part. Packaging options include HiCTE Land Grid Array (LGA) and HiCTE ceramic Ball Grid Array (BGA), both of which comply with the European Union's Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive.

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