Intel Quark is a line 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 a maximum of 32- bit units. Compared to smaller bit widths, 32-bit computers can perform la ...

x86 x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel, based on the 8086 microprocessor and its 8-bit-external-bus variant, the 8088. Th ...

SoC SOC, SoC, Soc, may refer to: Science and technology * Information security operations center, in an organization, a centralized unit that deals with computer security issues * Selectable output control * Separation of concerns, a program design pr ...

s and

microcontroller A microcontroller (MC, uC, or μC) or microcontroller unit (MCU) is a small computer on a single integrated circuit. A microcontroller contains one or more CPUs (processor cores) along with memory and programmable input/output peripherals. Pro ...

s by

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

, designed for small size and low power consumption, and targeted at new markets including

wearable devices Wearable technology is any technology that is designed to be used while worn. Common types of wearable technology include smartwatches, fitness trackers, and smartglasses. Wearable electronic devices are often close to or on the surface of the s ...

. The line was introduced at

Intel Developer Forum The Intel Developer Forum (IDF) was a biannual gathering of technologists to discuss Intel products and products based on Intel products. The first IDF was held in 1997. To emphasize the importance of China, the Spring 2007 IDF was held in Beijin ...

in 2013, and discontinued in January 2019. Quark processors, while slower than

Atom Atoms are the basic particles of the chemical elements. An atom consists of a atomic nucleus, nucleus of protons and generally neutrons, surrounded by an electromagnetically bound swarm of electrons. The chemical elements are distinguished fr ...

processors, are much smaller and consume less power. They lack support for

SIMD Single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) is a type of parallel computer, parallel processing in Flynn's taxonomy. SIMD describes computers with multiple processing elements that perform the same operation on multiple data points simultaneousl ...

instruction sets (such as MMX and SSE) and only support

embedded operating system An embedded operating system (EOS) is an operating system designed specifically for embedded computer systems. These systems aim to enhance functionality and reliability to perform dedicated tasks. When the multitasking method employed allows ...

s. Quark powers the (now discontinued)

Intel Galileo Intel Galileo is the first in a line of Arduino-certified development boards based on Intel x86 architecture and is designed for the maker and education communities. Intel released two versions of Galileo, referred to as Gen 1 and Gen 2. Th ...

developer microcontroller board. In 2016

Arduino Arduino () is an Italian open-source hardware and open-source software, software company, project, and user community that designs and manufactures single-board microcontrollers and microcontroller kits for building digital devices. Its hardwar ...

released the Arduino 101 board that includes an Intel Quark SoC. The CPU

instruction set In computer science, an instruction set architecture (ISA) is an abstract model that generally defines how software controls the CPU in a computer or a family of computers. A device or program that executes instructions described by that ISA, s ...

is, for most models, the same as a

Pentium Pentium is a series of x86 architecture-compatible microprocessors produced by Intel from 1993 to 2023. The Pentium (original), original Pentium was Intel's fifth generation processor, succeeding the i486; Pentium was Intel's flagship proce ...

( P54C/

i586 The Pentium (also referred to as the i586 or P5 Pentium) is a microprocessor introduced by Intel on March 22, 1993. It is the first CPU using the Pentium brand. Considered the fifth generation in the x86 (8086) compatible line of processors, s ...

) CPU.

History

The first product in the Quark line is the single-core

32 nm The "32 nm" node is the step following the "45 nm" process in CMOS (MOSFET) semiconductor device fabrication. "32-nanometre" refers to the average half-pitch (i.e., half the distance between identical features) of a memory cell at this technolo ...

X1000

with a

clock rate Clock rate or clock speed in computing typically refers to the frequency at which the clock generator of a processor can generate pulses used to synchronize the operations of its components. It is used as an indicator of the processor's s ...

of up to 400

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

. The system includes several interfaces, including

PCI Express PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), officially abbreviated as PCIe, is a high-speed standard used to connect hardware components inside computers. It is designed to replace older expansion bus standards such as Peripher ...

, serial

UART A universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter (UART ) is a peripheral device for asynchronous serial communication in which the data format and transmission speeds are configurable. It sends data bits one by one, from the least significant to ...

I²C I2C (Inter-Integrated Circuit; pronounced as "" or ""), alternatively known as I2C and IIC, is a synchronous, multi-master/multi-slave, single-ended, serial communication bus invented in 1980 by Philips Semiconductors (now NXP Semiconduct ...

Fast Ethernet In computer networking, Fast Ethernet Ethernet physical layer, physical layers carry traffic at the nominal rate of . The Classic Ethernet, prior Ethernet speed was . Of the Fast Ethernet physical layers, 100BASE-TX is by far the most common. ...

USB 2.0 Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical i ...

, SDIO,

power management controller Power may refer to: Common meanings * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power, a type of energy * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events Math ...

, and

GPIO A general-purpose input/output (GPIO) is an uncommitted digital signal pin on an integrated circuit or electronic circuit (e.g. MCUs/ MPUs) board that can be used as an input or output, or both, and is controllable by software. GPIOs have no p ...

. There are 16 kB of on-chip embedded SRAM and an integrated

DDR3 Double Data Rate 3 Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory (DDR3 SDRAM) is a type of synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM) with a high Bandwidth (computing), bandwidth ("double data rate") interface, and has been in use since 2007. ...

memory controller A memory controller, also known as memory chip controller (MCC) or a memory controller unit (MCU), is a digital circuit that manages the flow of data going to and from a computer's main memory. When a memory controller is integrated into anothe ...

.Intel® Quark SoC X1000 (16K Cache, 400 MHz) Specifications
, Intel A second Intel product that includes Quark core, the

Intel Edison The Intel Edison is a computer-on-module that was offered by Intel as a Development board, development system for wearable computer, wearable devices and Internet of Things devices. The system was initially announced to be the same size and shape ...

microcomputer, was presented in January 2014. It has a form factor close to the size of an

SD card Secure Digital (SD) is a proprietary, non-volatile, flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA). Owing to their compact size, SD cards have been widely adopted in a variety of portable consumer electronics, including dig ...

, and is capable of wireless networking using

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for Wireless LAN, local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by ...

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is li ...

. In January 2015, Intel announced the sub-miniature Intel Curie module for wearable applications, based on a ''Quark SE'' core with 80 kB SRAM and 384 kB

flash Flash, flashes, or FLASH may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional aliases * The Flash, several DC Comics superheroes with super speed: ** Flash (Jay Garrick) ** Barry Allen ** Wally West, the first Kid Flash and third adult Flash ...

. At the size of a button, it also features a 6-axis accelerometer, a DSP sensor hub, a

Bluetooth LE Bluetooth Low Energy (Bluetooth LE, colloquially BLE, formerly marketed as Bluetooth Smart) is a wireless personal area network technology designed and marketed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (Bluetooth SIG) aimed at novel applications i ...

unit and a battery charge controller. Intel announced the end-of-life of its Quark products in January 2019, with orders accepted until July 2019 and final shipments set for July 2022.

List of processors

"Lakemont" (32 nm)

The name ''Lakemont'' has been used in reference to the processor core in multiple Quark-series processors.

"Clanton"

Source: * All models support

instruction set, with

x87 x87 is a floating-point-related subset of the x86 architecture instruction set. It originated as an extension of the 8086 instruction set in the form of optional floating-point coprocessors that work in tandem with corresponding x86 CPUs. These m ...

FPU and

NX bit The NX bit (no-execute bit) is a processor feature that separates areas of a virtual address space (the memory layout a program uses) into sections for storing data or program instructions. An operating system supporting the NX bit can mark certai ...

* Temperature range: -40 °C to +85 °C for X10''x''1 models, 0 °C to +70 °C, for X10''x''0 models *

Secure boot Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI, as an acronym) is a specification for the firmware architecture of a computing platform. When a computer is powered on, the UEFI implementation is typically the first that runs, before starting th ...

supported on X102''x'' models * DDR3 controller with one 16-bit channel * Two PCI-Express 2.0 controllers, with 1 lane each. * USB Controller with two USB 2.0 Host ports and one USB 2.0 device port * Two 10/100 MBit Ethernet controllers * Integrated memory card reader supporting SDIO 3.0, eMMC 4.41 and SD 3.0 * Serial I/O supporting SPI, UART (serial port) and I2C (The L2 cache column shows the size of the L1 cache.)

"Silver Butte"

* Implements only a limited subset of the 32-bit x86 instruction set (e.g. segmentation,

BCD BCD may refer to: Computing * Binary-coded decimal, a representation of decimal digits in binary ** BCD (character encoding), a 6-bit superset of binary-coded decimal derived from the binary encoding of the same name * Boot Configuration Data, th ...

/string instructions, AF/PF flags, XCHG are not supported)

"Mint Valley"

* Supports

instruction set, without x87.

"Atlas Peak"

* Supports

instruction set, without x87.

Segfault bug

Intel Quark SoC X1000 contains a bug (#71538) that "under specific circumstances" results in a type of crash known as a

segfault In computing, a segmentation fault (often shortened to segfault) or access violation is a failure condition raised by hardware with memory protection, notifying an operating system (OS) the software has attempted to access a restricted area of m ...

. The workaround implemented by Intel is to omit

LOCK Lock(s) or Locked may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainme ...

prefixes (not required on single-threaded processors) in the compiled code. While source-based embedded systems like those built using the

Yocto Project The Yocto Project is a Linux Foundation collaborative open source project whose goal is to produce tools and processes that enable the creation of Linux distributions for embedded and IoT software that are independent of the underlying architect ...

can incorporate this workaround at compile time, general purpose Linux distributions such as

Debian Debian () is a free and open-source software, free and open source Linux distribution, developed by the Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock in August 1993. Debian is one of the oldest operating systems based on the Linux kerne ...

are deeply affected by the bug. Such a workaround is not easy to implement in binaries meant to support multithreading too as they require LOCK prefixes to function properly.

References

External links

Intel Quark SoC Documents

Quark family
// Intel ARK (Product Specs)
Intel's 'Quark' lineup targets wearables. Intel is making the tiniest of chips that can power wearable devices.
// CNET, September 10, 2013
Intel Unveils Tiny Quark Chips for Wearable Devices. Processor Is One-Fifth the Size of Its Low-End Atom Chip
// The WSJ, September 10, 2013
Intel introduces Quark, a tiny chip for the internet of things and wearable computing
// The Verge, 2013-09-10
With Quark, Intel blesses the market of chips for wearable devices
// Ventureboat, 2013-09-12 {{Single-board computer Intel microcontrollers

Quark A quark () is a type of elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nucleus, atomic nuclei ...