One of the world's largest consumer electronics companies claims to have booted Linux on an ARM11 SoC (system-on-chip) built on 65-nanometer CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) process technology. Philips Electronics calls the unnamed SoC “the first truly consumer product-oriented SoC to be successfully produced in 65-nm low-power CMOS.”

Philips says it designed the new,… unnamed SoC to demonstrate the multimedia capabilities of next-generation consumer products, and that SoC products based on the demo design are already in “an advanced stage of development,” targeting 3G mobile phones, portable media players, and high-performance LCD TVs.

Philips's 65nm demo SoC is based on an ARM1176JZF-S processor, with 512 Kbytes of high-speed low-power scratch-pad memory, and high-speed communication ports. The ARM core integrates “key analog IP blocks,” Philips says, as well as ARM's TrustZone and “intelligent energy manager” technologies. It also makes use use of voltage islands in critical circuit areas, and other power-saving measures.

Philips fabbed its demo SoC in Grenoble, France, at the Crolles2 facility jointly funded by STMicroelectronics, Philips, and Motorola. It says the design came out “right-first-time,” borrowing chip industry jargon popularized by LSI Logic.

Philips claims its demo chip has already booted and run Linux. The consumer electronics giant describes Linux as “rapidly gaining favor in the consumer-electronics market due to its modularity, scalability, open-source philosophy, and low-cost development tool support.”

CTO Rene Penning de Vries states, “The fact that fully functional chips came out right-first-time is a testament to the quality of the Crolles2 65-nm CMOS development line, as well as a vindication of the entire design flow, right through from our 65-nm CMOS design libraries to our design verification and layout tools.”

Smaller process technologies result in lower power requirements, and leave more real estate for cache and hardware acceleration engines of various kinds. Intel currently builds its CoreDuo chips on 65nm technology, while a much smaller company, PA Semiconductor, hopes to produce dual-core Power-architecture chips on 65nm process technology this year.

IBM, meanwhile, has touted a technology claimed capable of sub-30nm chips. ARM has begun marketing a Cortex-A8 design for 90nm and 65nm technology, claiming it will produce SoCs that “burn as much power as an ARM11, but deliver two to three times the performance.”

Philips reported revenues of 30.4B Euros in 2005. It is focused on the healthcare, lifestyle, and technology sectors, and employs 159,200 in 60 countries, it says.

 
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