New generation of ARM-based power-efficient and feature-rich applications processor

Mouser now stocks i.MX 7 series processors from NXP Semiconductors. This new generation of power-efficient and feature-rich applications processor is based on NXP’s successful and broadly deployed i.MX platform. The i.MX 7 series delivers world-class core power efficiency and the industry’s first general-purpose microprocessor family to incorporate both the ARM Cortex-A7 and the ARM Cortex-M4 cores. These technologies, together with the companion NXP PF3000 PMIC, unleash the potential for innovative, secure and power-efficient end-products for wearable computing and IoT applications. The first members of the series processors are the i.MX 7Solo and i.MX 7Dual product families. The i.MX 7Solo family devices feature a single Cortex-A7 core that operates at up to 800MHz and a Cortex-M4 core, and the i.MX 7Dual family devices combine the Cortex-M4 processor with two Cortex-A7 cores running up to 1GHz. The Cortex-A7 and Cortex-M4 achieve processor core efficiency levels of 100µW/MHz and 70µW/MHz respectively. All of the cores can be individually power-enabled to perform as needed, allowing the i.MX 7 series to meet the high-performance needs of running Linux, graphical user interfaces, wireless stacks or other high-bandwidth data transfers with one or both of the Cortex-A7 cores. The Cortex-M4 is able to perform real time tasks and act as a low power co-processor. Through the use of an advanced 28nm ultra low leakage process technology and discrete power domain architecture, the LPSR mode consumes only 250µW while supporting DDR self-refresh mode, GPIO wakeup, and memory state retention. High-bandwidth connections are provided through a variety of interfaces such as PCIe and Gigabit Ethernet with AVB support. Both of the families support the performance and power driven range of external memories including eMMC5.0 and Low Power-DDR3 at up to 1066 MHz, meeting higher bandwidth applications. These processors are ideal for a host of applications including wearables, secure point-of-sale equipment, smart home controls, industrial products, and a vast array of innovative IoT solutions.