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The ARM Cortex-A is a group of
32-bit In computer architecture, 32-bit computing refers to computer systems with a processor, memory, and other major system components that operate on data in 32- bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform large calcula ...
and
64-bit In computer architecture, 64-bit integers, memory addresses, or other data units are those that are 64 bits wide. Also, 64-bit CPUs and ALUs are those that are based on processor registers, address buses, or data buses of that size. A comp ...
RISC In computer engineering, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) is a computer designed to simplify the individual instructions given to the computer to accomplish tasks. Compared to the instructions given to a complex instruction set compu ...
ARM processor cores licensed by
Arm Holdings Arm is a British semiconductor and software design company based in Cambridge, England. Its primary business is in the design of ARM processors (CPUs). It also designs other chips, provides software development tools under the DS-5, Real ...
. The cores are intended for application use. The group consists of 32-bit only cores: ARM Cortex-A5, ARM Cortex-A7,
ARM Cortex-A8 The ARM Cortex-A8 is a 32-bit processor core licensed by ARM Holdings implementing the ARMv7-A architecture. Compared to the ARM11, the Cortex-A8 is a dual-issue superscalar design, achieving roughly twice the instructions per cycle. The Corte ...
, ARM Cortex-A9, ARM Cortex-A12, ARM Cortex-A15,
ARM Cortex-A17 MPCore The ARM Cortex-A17 is a 32-bit processor core implementing the ARMv7-A architecture, licensed by ARM Holdings. Providing up to four cache-coherent cores, it serves as the successor to the Cortex-A9 and replaces the previous ARM Cortex-A12 sp ...
, and
ARM Cortex-A32 ARM (stylised in lowercase as arm, formerly an acronym for Advanced RISC Machines and originally Acorn RISC Machine) is a family of reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architectures for computer processors, configured ...
, 32/64-bit mixed operation cores:
ARM Cortex-A35 ARM (stylised in lowercase as arm, formerly an acronym for Advanced RISC Machines and originally Acorn RISC Machine) is a family of reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architectures for computer processors, configured ...
, ARM Cortex-A53, ARM Cortex-A55, ARM Cortex-A57, ARM Cortex-A72, ARM Cortex-A73, ARM Cortex-A75, ARM Cortex-A76,
ARM Cortex-A77 The ARM Cortex-A77 is a central processing unit implementing the ARMv8.2-A 64-bit instruction set designed by ARM Holdings' Austin design centre. ARM announced an increase of 23% and 35% in integer and floating point performance, respectively. M ...
, ARM Cortex-A78,
ARM Cortex-A710 The ARM Cortex-A710 is the successor to the ARM Cortex-A78, being the First-Generation Armv9 “big” Cortex CPU. It is the companion to the ARM Cortex-A510 "LITTLE" efficiency core. It was designed by ARM Ltd. Arm is a British semiconduc ...
, and ARM Cortex-A510 Refresh, and 64-bit only cores: ARM Cortex-A34, ARM Cortex-A65, ARM Cortex-A510 (2021), and
ARM Cortex-A715 The ARM Cortex-A715 is the second generation ARMv9 "big" Cortex CPU. Compared to its predecessor the Cortex-A710 the Cortex-A715 CPU is noted for having a 20% increase in power efficiency, and 5% improvement in performance. The Cortex-A715 shows ...
. The 32-bit ARM Cortex-A cores, except for the Cortex-A32, implement the ARMv7-A profile of the ARMv7 architecture. The main distinguishing feature of the ARMv7-A profile, compared to the other two profiles, the ARMv7-R profile implemented by the
ARM Cortex-R The ARM Cortex-R is a family of 32-bit and 64-bit RISC ARM processor cores licensed by Arm Holdings. The cores are optimized for hard real-time and safety-critical applications. Cores in this family implement the ARM Real-time (R) profile, w ...
cores and the ARMv7-M profile implemented by most of the
ARM Cortex-M The ARM Cortex-M is a group of 32-bit RISC ARM processor cores licensed by Arm Holdings. These cores are optimized for low-cost and energy-efficient integrated circuits, which have been embedded in tens of billions of consumer devices. Thou ...
cores, is that only the ARMv7-A profile includes a
memory management unit A memory management unit (MMU), sometimes called paged memory management unit (PMMU), is a computer hardware unit having all memory references passed through itself, primarily performing the translation of virtual memory addresses to physical ...
(MMU)."Cortex-A Series"
Many modern operating systems require a MMU to run. The 64-bit ARM Cortex-A cores as well as the 32-bit ARM Cortex-A32 implement the ARMv8-A profile of the ARMv8 architecture.


Overview


ARM license

ARM Holdings Arm is a British semiconductor and software design company based in Cambridge, England. Its primary business is in the design of ARM processors (CPUs). It also designs other chips, provides software development tools under the DS-5, Real ...
neither manufactures nor sells CPU devices based on its own designs, but rather licenses the processor architecture to interested parties. ARM offers a variety of licensing terms, varying in cost and deliverables. To all licensees, ARM provides an integratable hardware description of the ARM core, as well as complete software development toolset, and the right to sell manufactured
silicon Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic luster, and is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor. It is a member of group 14 in the periodic ...
containing the ARM CPU.


Silicon customization

Integrated device manufacturers (IDM) receive the ARM Processor IP as synthesizable RTL (written in
Verilog Verilog, standardized as IEEE 1364, is a hardware description language (HDL) used to model electronic systems. It is most commonly used in the design and verification of digital circuits at the register-transfer level of abstraction. It is a ...
). In this form, they have the ability to perform architectural level optimizations and extensions. This allows the manufacturer to achieve custom design goals, such as higher clock speed, very low power consumption, instruction set extensions, optimizations for size, debug support, etc. To determine which components have been included in an ARM IC chip, consult the manufacturer datasheet and related documentation.


Instruction sets

The Cortex-A5 / A7 / A8 / A9 / A12 / A15 / A17 cores implement the ARMv7-A architecture. The Cortex-A32 / A34 / A35 / A53 / A57 / A72 / A73 cores implement the ARMv8-A architecture. The Cortex-A55 / A65 / A75 / A76 / A77 / A78 cores implement the ARMv8.2-A architecture. The Cortex-A510, A710 and A715 cores implement the ARMv9-A architecture.


Documentation

A typical top-down documentation tree is: # IC Manufacturer's high-level marketing slides # IC Manufacturer datasheet for the exact physical chip # IC Manufacturer Reference Manuals — describes common peripherals and other aspects of physical chips within the same series # ARM Core Reference Manuals — for the exact ARM core processor within the chip # ARM Architecture Reference Manuals — includes detailed description of all instruction sets of the coreARMv7-A Architecture Reference Manual; ARM Holdings.
/ref> IC Manufacturers usually have additional documents, including: evaluation board user manuals, application notes, getting started with development software, software library documents, errata, and more.


See also

*
ARM architecture ARM (stylised in lowercase as arm, formerly an acronym for Advanced RISC Machines and originally Acorn RISC Machine) is a family of reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architectures for computer processors, configure ...
*
Comparison of ARMv7-A cores This is a comparison of processors based on the ARM family of instruction sets designed by ARM Holdings and 3rd parties, sorted by version of the ARM instruction set, release and name. ARMv6 ARMv7-A This is a table comparing central proc ...
* Comparison of ARMv8-A cores *
JTAG JTAG (named after the Joint Test Action Group which codified it) is an industry standard for verifying designs and testing printed circuit boards after manufacture. JTAG implements standards for on-chip instrumentation in electronic design autom ...
, SWD * List of ARM microarchitectures and cores


References


External links

;ARM Cortex-A official documents * : ;Quick Reference Cards * Instructions: Thumb
1
, ARM and Thumb-2
2
, Vector Floating-Point
3
– arm.com * Opcodes: Thumb
12
, ARM
34
, GNU Assembler Directives
5
. ;Migrating
Migrating from MIPS to ARM
– arm.com
Migrating from PPC to ARM
– arm.com
Migrating from SH-4 to Cortex-A
– arm.com
Migrating from IA-32 (x86-32) to ARM
– arm.com {{Clear ARM processors