qualcomm snapdragon processor

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CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION

Qualcomm Inc. is an American global semiconductor company that

designs and markets wireless telecommunications products and services. The

company headquarters are located in San Diego, California, United States. The

company has 157 worldwide locations. The parent company is Qualcomm

Incorporated (Qualcomm), which includes the Qualcomm Technology Licensing

Division (QTL). Qualcomm's wholly owned subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies,

Inc. (QTI), operates substantially all of Qualcomm's R&D activities, as well as its

product and services businesses, including its semiconductor business, Qualcomm

CDMA Technologies.

In November 2014, Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf announced at the

company’s annual analyst day meeting held in New York City that the company is

planning to target the data center market with new server chips based on the ARM

architecture and plans to make them commercially available by the end of 2015.

1.1 What is Snapdragon

Snapdragon is a suite of system-on-chip (SoC) semiconductor products

designed and marketed by Qualcomm for mobile devices. The Snapdragon central

processing unit (CPU) uses the ARM RISC instruction set, and a single SoC may

include multiple CPU cores, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a wireless modem,

and other software and hardware to support a smart phone's global positioning

system (GPS), camera, gesture recognition and video. Snapdragon semiconductors

are embedded in most Google Android and Windows Phone devices. They are

also used for net books, in cars, wearable devices and other devices.

The first Snapdragon product to be made available to consumer device

manufacturers was the QSD8250, which was released in November 2007. It

included the first 1 GHz processor for mobile phones. Qualcomm introduced its

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"Krait" microprocessor architecture in the second generation of Snapdragon SoCs

in 2011, allowing each processor core to adjust its speed based on the device's

needs. At the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, Qualcomm introduced the first of

the Snapdragon 800 series and renamed prior models as the 200, 400 and 600

series. Several new iterations have been introduced since, such as the Snapdragon

805, 810, 615 and 410. Qualcomm re-branded its modem products under the

Snapdragon name in December 2014.[1]

1.2 History

1.2.1 Pre-release

Qualcomm announced it was developing the Scorpion central processing

unit (CPU) in November 2005. The Snapdragon system on chip (SoC) was

announced in November 2006 and included the Scorpion processor, as well as

other semiconductors. This also included Qualcomm's first

custom Hexagon digital signal processor (DSP).

According to a Qualcomm spokesperson, it was named Snapdragon,

because "Snap and Dragon sounded fast and fierce." The following month,

Qualcomm acquired Airgo Networks for an undisclosed amount; it said Airgo's

802.11a/b/g and 802.11n Wi-Fi technology would be integrated with the

Snapdragon product suite. Early versions of Scorpion had a processor core design

similar to the Cortex-A8.[1]

1.2.2 Early Snapdragon products

The first Snapdragon shipments were of the QSD8250 in November 2007.

According to CNET, Snapdragon's "claim to fame" was having the first 1 GHz

mobile phone processor. Most smartphones at the time were using 500 MHz

processors. The first generation of Snapdragon products supported a 720p

resolution, 3D graphics and a 12-megapixel camera. By November 2008, 15

device manufacturers decided to embed Snapdragon semiconductors in their

consumer electronics products.

In November 2008, Qualcomm announced it would also compete against

Intel in the netbook processor market with dual-core Snapdragon system-on-chips

planned for late 2009. It demonstrated a Snapdragon processor that consumed less

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualcomm_Hexagon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_signal_processor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airgo_Networks

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power than Intel chips announced around the same time and claimed it would also

cost less when released. That same month, Qualcomm introduced a Snapdragon-

based protoytpe netbook called Kayak that used 1.5 GHz processors and was

intended for developing markets.

In May 2009, Java SE was ported and optimized for Snapdragon. At the

November 2009 Computex Taipei show, Qualcomm announced the QSD8650A

addition to the Snapdragon product suite, which was based on 45 nanometer

manufacturing processes. It featured a 1.2 GHz processor and had lower power

consumption than prior models.[1]

1.2.3 Adoption

By late 2009, smartphone manufacturers announced they would be using

Snapdragon semiconductors in the Acer Liquid Metal, HTC HD2, Toshiba

TG01 and the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10. Lenovo announced the first netbook

product using Snapdragon SoCs that December. According to PC World, mobile

devices using Snapdragon had better battery life and were smaller in size than

those using other SoCs.

By June 2010, Snapdragon chips were embedded in 20

available consumer devices and incorporated into 120 product designs in

development. Apple had a dominant market position for smartphones at the time

and did not incorporate Snapdragon into any of its products. The success of

Snapdragon therefore relied on competing Android phones, such as Google's

Nexus One and the HTC Incredible, challenging Apple's market position. Android

devices did end up taking market share from the iPhone and predominantly used

Snapdragon. As of July 2014, the market share of Android phones had grown to

84.6 percent. There was an "unconfirmed but widely circulated report" speculating

that Apple was going to start using Snapdragon SoCs in Verizon-based iPhones.

As of 2012, Apple was still using their own semiconductor designs. Support for

desktop Windows operating systems was added to Snapdragon in October 2010.

By 2011 Snapdragon was embedded in Hewlett Packard's WebOS devices and had

a 50% market share of a $7.9 billion smartphone processor market. By 2015,

Snapdragon was used in most non-Apple smartphones.

Snapdragon chips are also used in most Android-based smartwatches,

Snapdragon products have also been used in virtual reality products, in vehicles

like the Maserati Quattroporte and Cadillac XTS and in other applications.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Platform,_Standard_Edition

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computex_Taipei

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acer_Liquid_Metal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_HD2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiba_TG01



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Ericsson_Xperia_X10

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1.2.4 Later models

In June 2010, Qualcomm began sampling the third generation of

Snapdragon products; two dual-core 1.2 GHz system on chips (SoC) called the

Mobile Station Modem (MSM) 8260 and 8660. GSM, UMTS and HSPA+

networks, while the 8660 was for CDMA2000 and EVDO networks.That

November Qualcomm announced the MSM8960 for LTE networks. In early 2011,

Qualcomm announced a new processor architecture called Krait, which used the

ARM v7 instruction set, but was based on Qualcomm's own processor design. The

processors were called S4 and had a feature named Asynchronous Symmetrical

Multi-Processing (aSMP), meaning each processor core adjusted its clock speed

and voltage based on the device's activity in order to optimize battery usage. Prior

models were renamed to S1, S2 and S3 to distinguish each generation.

The S4-based generation of Snapdragon SoCs began shipping to product

manufacturers with the MSM8960 in February 2012. In benchmark tests by

Anandtech, the MSM8960 had better performance than any other processor tested.

In an overall system benchmark, the 8960 obtained a score of 907, compared to

528 and 658 for the Galaxy Nexus and HTC Rezound respectively. In a Quadrant

benchmark test, which assesses raw processing power, a dual-core Krait processor

had a score of 4,952, whereas the quad-core Tegra 3 was just under 4,000.

Furthermore, another test using a dual-core Krait-powered HTC One Sproduced a

Quadrant score of 6,723 under Android 4.1.1. The quad-core version, APQ8064,

was made available in July 2012. It was the first Snapdragon SoC to use

Qualcomm's Adreno 320 graphics processing unit (GPU).[1]

1.2.5 Recent developments

Adoption of Snapdragon contributed to Qualcomm's transition from a

wireless modem company to one that also produces a wider range of hardware and

software for mobile devices. In July 2011 Qualcomm acquired GestureTek in

order to incorporate its gesture recognition intellectual property into Snapdragon

SoCs. In mid-2012 Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon software development

kit (SDK) for Android devices at the Uplinq developer conference. The SDK

includes tools for facial recognition, gesture recognition, noise cancellation and

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_One_S

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GestureTek

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Uplinq&action=edit&redlink=1

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audio recording. That November Qualcomm acquired some assets from EPOS

Development in order to integrate its stylus and gesture recognition technology

into Snapdragon products. It also collaborated with Microsoft to

optimize Windows Phone 8 for Snapdragon semiconductors.

1.2.6 Current Models and Release Time

Fig 1.1 Snapdragon Processor and their release year

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Phone_8

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CHAPTER-2

SNAPDRAGON DEVICES

Snapdragon is a family of mobile systems on a chip (SoC) made by

Qualcomm for use in smart phones, tablets, and smart book devices. A system on

a chip or system on chip (SoC or SOC) is an integrated circuit (IC) that integrates

all components of a computer or other electronic system into a single chip. It may

contain digital, analog, mixed-signal, and often radio-frequency functions—all on

a single chip substrate.[2]

2.1 Different types of Snapdragon processors

List of different Snapdragon processor devices is given below.

1. Snapdragon S1

2. Snapdragon S2

3. Snapdragon S3

4. Snapdragon S4

5. Snapdragon 200 series




2.2 Snapdragon S1

Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 is the first SoC (System on chip) marked by

Qualcomm in 2007.Basic specification and details are as discussed below.

2.2.1 Central Processing Unit

The Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 has an average performing CPU with a

maximum clock speed of 1,000.00 MHz. It has 1 core(s), resulting in fair to

middling multi-tasking when compared to most dual core processors.[3]

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2.2.2 Graphics Processing Unit

The Qualcomm Adreno is a separate graphics processor solely intended for

the accelerated creation of images to be outputted to a display. Its entire

architecture is structured around processing large blocks of data in parallel.

Each API provides an interface for high-level languages to utilize the

graphics processing options in order to deliver better graphics for various

applications.

2.2.3 Digital Signal Processing

The Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 has a specialized digital signal

microprocessor that is used for the low-power operation of a device in applications

that deal with analog signals such as audio, video, and mobile broadband signals.

Each analog signal is converted into a digital signal that is then processed by the

DSP at a lower latency (relative to the CPU running the same digital signal

processing algorithm), thus improving performance.

2.2.4 External Components

External Component

Interfaces

Embedded GPS Module

RAM Interface LPDDR2 SDRAM

Video Encoding 720p

GPS Module Type Embedded Gen 7 gpsOne GPS module with

gpsOneXTRA Assistance

Table 2.1 External Component of Snapdragon S1

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Model number

Semi conductor technology

CPU instruction set

CPU CPU

cache (in KB)

RAM Year

MSM7225 65 nm ARMv6 Up to 528 MHz ARM11 2007

MSM7625 65 nm ARMv6 Up to 528 MHz ARM11 2007

MSM7227 65 nm ARMv6 Up to 800 MHz ARM11 166 MHz LPDDR1

2008

MSM7627 65 nm ARMv6 Up to 800 MHz ARM11 166 MHz LPDDR1

2008

MSM7225A 45 nm ARMv7 Up to 800 MHz ARM Cortex-A5

200 MHz LPDDR1

Q4 2011

MSM7625A 45 nm ARMv7 Up to 800 MHz ARM Cortex-A5

200 MHz LPDDR1

Q4 2011

MSM7227A 45 nm ARMv7 Up to 1.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A5

L2: 256 200 MHz LPDDR1

Q4 2011

MSM7627A 45 nm ARMv7 Up to 1.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A5

L2: 256 200 MHz LPDDR1

Q4 2011

MSM7225AB 45 nm ARMv7 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A5

QSD8250 65 nm ARMv7 Up to 1 GHz Scorpion L2: 256 Q4 2008

QSD8650 65 nm ARMv7 Up to 1 GHz Scorpion L2: 257 Q4 2008

Table 2.2 Different models of Snapdragon S1

2.3 Snapdragon S2

Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 is the first SoC (System on chip) after

Snapdragon S1 marked by Qualcomm in 2007. The S2 was the processor of 45nm

semiconductor technology. Snapdragon S2 was used in modern single-core

Android smart phones.[3]

Basic specification and details as discussed below.



maximum clock speed of 1,500.00 MHz. It has 1 core(s), resulting in fair to

middling multi-tasking when compared to most dual core processors.

9

This processor is based on the Reduced Instruction Set

Computing (RISC) design strategy enabling instructions to execute faster, as

opposed to the Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC) design strategy, which

is generally slower at executing due to lengthy instructions.


The Qualcomm Adreno 205 GPU is a separate graphics processor solely

intended for the accelerated creation of images to be outputted to a display. Its

entire architecture is structured around processing large blocks of data in parallel.



applications.


Hexagon QDSP5 256MHz The Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 has a

specialized digital signal microprocessor that is used for the low-power operation

of a device in applications that deal with analog signals such as audio, video, and

mobile broadband signals. Each analog signal is converted into a digital signal that

is then processed by the DSP at a lower latency (relative to the CPU running the

same digital signal processing algorithm), thus improving performance. [3]


External Component

Interfaces Bluetooth 4.0

Display Support

RAM Interface 333MHz LPDDR2


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Model number


CPU instruction

set CPU

CPU cache (in KB)

RAM Year

MSM7230 45 nm ARMv7 Up to 800 MHz Scorpion

L2: 256 Dual-channel 333 MHz LPDDR2

Q2 2010

MSM7630 45 nm ARMv7 Up to 800 MHz Scorpion


Q2 2010

APQ8055 45 nm ARMv7 Up to 1.4 GHz Scorpion


Q2 2010

MSM8255 45 nm ARMv7 Up to 1 GHz Scorpion


Q2 2010

MSM8255T 45 nm ARMv7 Up to 1.5 GHz Scorpion


Q2 2010

MSM8655 45 nm ARMv7 Up to 1 GHz Scorpion


Q2 2010

MSM8655T 45 nm ARMv7 Up to 1.5 GHz Scorpion


Q2 2010


2.4 Snapdragon S3

The Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 is an entry level SoC for smartphones and

tablets (mostly Android based). It contains two Scorpion cores (enhanced ARM

Cortex-A8) clocked at up to 1.7 GHz, a Adreno 220 graphics card and radio

elements. [3]

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maximum clock speed of 1,700.00 MHz. It has 2 core(s), resulting in good multi-

tasking when compared to a single core processor.

As a result of following the Harvard architecture, the CPU has a separate

Level 1 instruction and data cache leading to a slight improvement in performance

over a unified Level 1 cache. The instruction cache is only used for storing

instructions and executes in a sequential manner. The data cache stores data used

by instructions; the point of access or storage is generally specified by an

instruction.

This processor is based on the Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC)

design strategy enabling instructions to execute faster, as opposed to the Complex

Instruction Set Computing (CISC) design strategy, which is generally slower at

executing due to lengthy instructions.


The Qualcomm Adreno 220 is a separate graphics processor solely intended

for the accelerated creation of images to be outputted to a display. Its entire








processing algorithm), thus improving performance. [3]


RAM Interface LPDDR2 SDRAM

Primary Camera Support 16 MP

Video Encoding 1080p

Video Decoding 1080p

GPS Module Type gpsOneGen 8 with GLONASS,

gpsOneXTRA Assistance

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Model number


CPU instruction set

CPU CPU cache (in KB)

RAM Year

APQ8060 45 nm ARMv7 Up to 1.7 GHz dual-core Scorpion

L2: 512 Single-channel 500 MHz ISM/333 MHz LPDDR2

2011

MSM8260 45 nm ARMv7 Up to 1.7 GHz dual-core Scorpion


Q3 2010

MSM8660 45 nm ARMv7 Up to 1.7 GHz dual-core Scorpion


Q3 2010


2.5 Snapdragon S4

The S4-based generation of Snapdragon SoCs began shipping to product

manufacturers with the MSM8960 in February 2012. In benchmark tests by Anand

tech, the MSM8960 had better performance than any other processor tested. In an

overall system benchmark, the 8960 obtained a score of 907, compared to 528 and

658 for the Galaxy Nexus and HTC Rezound respectively.


The Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro MSM8960AB has an average

performing CPU with a maximum clock speed of 1,728.00 MHz. It has 2 core(s),

resulting ingood multi-tasking when compared to a single core processor.






instruction.




executing due to lengthy instructions

13


The Quad-core Adreno 320 MP4 GPU is a separate graphics processor

solely intended for the accelerated creation of images to be outputted to a display.

Its entire architecture is structured around processing large blocks of data in

parallel.



applications









RAM Interface Dual-channel 500MHz LPDDR2 memory interface




GPS Module Type gpsOneGen 8A with GLONASS


Model number

Semi cond. Tech.

CPU instructio

n set CPU

CPU cache (in KB)

RAM Year

MSM8225 45 nm ARMv7 Up to 1.2 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A5 L2: 512KB 1H 2012

14

MSM8625 45 nm ARMv7 Up to 1.2 GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A5 L2: 512 KB 1H 2012

MSM8225Q 45 nm ARMv7

Up to 1.2 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A5 1H 2012

MSM8625Q 45 nm ARMv7

Up to 1.2 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A5 1H 2012

MSM8227 28 nm LP ARMv7

Up to 1 GHz dual-core Krait

L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 1 MB 2H 2012


Up to 1 GHz dual-core Krait

L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 1 MB 2H 2012

APQ8030 28 nm LP ARMv7

Up to 1.2 GHz dual-core Krait

L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 1 MB 3Q 2012



L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 1 MB

Single-channel 533 MHz LPDDR2 Q3 2012



L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 1 MB




L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 1 MB


APQ8060A 28 nm LP ARMv7


L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 1 MB 2H 2012

MSM8260A

28 nm LP ARMv7


L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 1 MB

Dual-channel 500 MHz LPDDR2 Q1 2012

MSM8660A

28 nm LP ARMv7


L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 1 MB




L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 1 MB


MSM8260A

28 nm LP ARMv7

Up to 1.7 GHz dual-core Krait 300

L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 1 MB

Dual-channel 500 MHz LPDDR2

MSM8960T 28 nm LP ARMv7


L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 1 MB


MSM8960T Pro

28 nm LP ARMv7

Up to 1.7 GHz dual-core Krait 300

L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 1 MB


15

MSM8960DT

28 nm LP ARMv7

Up to 1.7 GHz dual-core Krait 300, natural language processor and contextual processor

L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 1 MB


APQ8064 28 nm LP ARMv7

Up to 1.5 GHz quad-core Krait

L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 2 MB

Dual-channel 533 MHz LPDDR2 2012

MPQ8064 28 nm LP ARMv7

Up to 1.7 GHz quad-core Krait

L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 2 MB

Dual-channel 533 MHz 2012


Technology Snapdragon S1 Snapdragon S2 Snapdragon S3 Snapdragon S4

Semiconductor 65 nm/45 nm 45 nm 45 nm 45 nm/28 nm LP

instruction set ARMv6/ARMv7 ARMv7 ARMv7 ARMv7

Speed 528 MHz, Up to

1 GHz

800 MHz, Up

to 1.5 GHz Up to 1.7 GHz Up to 1.7 GHz

CPU ARM11,Cortex-

A5 and Scorpion Scorpion

Dual-core

Scorpion

Dual-core /quad-

core Krait

Cache Type L2 L2 L2 L0,L1,L2

CPU Cache Max 256 KB Min 256 KB

Max. 384 KB 512 KB Up to 2 MB

GPU Adreno 200 Adreno 205 Adreno 220 Quad-core

Adreno 320

GPU Support 2D support 2D support 2D support FHD/1080p and

FWVGA/720p

RAM

Technology

200 MHz

LPDDR1

333 MHz Dual-

channel

LPDDR2

Single-channel

500 MHz/333 M

Hz LPDDR2

Dual-channel

500 MHz

LPDDR2

Bluetooth - - - Bluetooth 4.0

Table 2.9 Comparison between Snapdragons S1, S2 & S3

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2.6 Snapdragon 200

The entry-level 200 series was expanded with six new processors using 28

nanometer manufacturing and dual or quad-core options in June 2013. With the

expanded line of Snapdragon 200 processors, Qualcomm Technologies is building

on its dual-and quad-core processor portfolio for entry-level smartphones and

tablets, bringing key process technology and modem features to all Snapdragon

tiers. The latest additions to the Snapdragon 200 class also feature: graphics

performance with Adreno 302 GPU; integrated IZat Location functionality and

support of Qualcomm Quick Charge 1.0; support for the latest Android, Windows

Phone and Firefox operating systems; RxD support; and a single, multimode

modem enabling faster data rates, fewer dropped calls, and better connections


The Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 has an average performing CPU with a

maximum clock speed of 1,400.00 MHz. It has 2 core(s), resulting in good multi-

tasking when compared to a single core processor.











applications.

17


The Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 has a specialized digital signal







External Component

Interfaces

Bluetooth 4.0

Display Controller

Display Support

RAM Interface LP-DDR / LP-DDR2 SD RAM


Video Encoding 720p

Video Decoding 720p

Display Resolution Support 1280 x 720 pixels

GPS Module Type Gps One IZat Gen7A

Table 2.10 External components of Snapdragon 200 series

Model

number

Semiconducto

r technology

CPU

instructio

n set

CPU Memory

technology Year

8225Q 45 nm LP

ARMv7

Up to 1.4 GHz quad-

core ARM Cortex-A5

LPDDR2

2013

8625Q 2013

8210 28 nm LP

Up to 1.2 GHz dual-

core ARM Cortex-A7

2013

8610 2013

18

8212 Up to 1.2 GHz quad-

core ARM Cortex-A7

2013

8612 2013

Table 2.11 Different models of Snapdragon 200 series

2.7 Snapdragon 400

Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processors are designed to deliver the

performance, features, connectivity and battery life that consumers expect in high

volume smart phones and tablets. The 400 family is for entry-level phones. The

400 series is used in smart watches


The Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 MSM8928 has an average performing

CPU with a maximum clock speed of 1,700.00 MHz. It has 8 core(s), resulting

in extremely efficient multi-tasking when compared to dual core processors.






instruction.









19



applications.









External Component Interfaces Bluetooth 4.0

RAM Interface LPDDR2, LPDDR3 SDRAM

Primary Camera Support 13.5 MP





Model

number

Semicond

uctor

technology

CPU

instructio

n set

CPU CPU

cache

Memory

technology Year

8026

28 nm LP ARMv7

Up to 1.2 GHz quad-

core ARM Cortex-

A7

L1:

32 KB, L2:

1 MB

LPDDR2 2013

8226

Up to 1.2 GHz quad-

core ARM Cortex-

A7

L1:

32 KB, L2:

1 MB

LPDDR2 2103

8228

Up to 1.6 GHz quad-

core ARM Cortex-

A7

L1:

32 KB, L2:

1 MB

LPDDR2 2013

20

8626

Up to 1.2 GHz quad-

core ARM Cortex-

A7

L1: 32 KB,

L2: 1 MB LPDDR2 2013

8628

Up to 1.6 GHz quad-

core ARM Cortex-

A7

L1: 32 KB,

L2: 1 MB LPDDR2 2013

8926 1.2 GHz quad-core

ARM Cortex-A7

L1: 32 KB,

L2: 1 MB LPDDR2

Q4

2013

8928 1.6 GHz quad-core

ARM Cortex-A7

L1:

32 KB, L2:

1 MB

LPDDR2 2013

8230 Up to 1.2 GHz dual-

core Krait 200

L1: 32 KB,

L2: 1 MB

LPDDR2 @

533 MHz

2013


core Krait 200

L1: 32 KB,

L2: 1 MB

LPDDR2 @

533 MHz

2013


core Krait 200

L1: 32 KB,

L2: 1 MB

LPDDR2 @

533 MHz

2013

8930AA Up to 1.4 GHz dual-

core Krait 300

L1: 32 KB,

L2: 1 MB

LPDDR2 @

533 MHz

2013

8230AB

Up to 1.7 GHz dual-

core Krait 300

L1: 32 KB,

L2: 1 MB

LPDDR2 @

533 MHz

2013

8630AB L1: 32 KB,

L2: 1 MB

LPDDR2 @

533 MHz 2013

8930AB L1: 32 KB,

L2: 1 MB

LPDDR2 @

533 MHz

2013

Table 2.13 Different Models of Snapdragon 400 series

2.8 Snapdragon 600

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 APQ8064T is a high-end SoC for mostly

Android based smartphones and tablets that was announced at the beginning of

2013. The chip includes four ARMv7 compatible Krait-300 cores that offer a

slightly improved architecture compared to the Krait cores in the S4 processors

21

(according to Anandtech). However, the performance of Cortex-A15 cores should

not be reached, but the power consumption should be better.


The Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 has a high performing CPU with a

maximum clock speed of 1,900.00 MHz. It has 4+4 core(s), resulting in extremely

efficient multi-tasking when compared to dual core processors.






instruction.
















22


External Component Interfaces Display Support

USB 3.0

RAM Interface Dual-channel LPDDR3 SDRAM




Display Resolution Support 2048 x 1536 pixels


Table 2.14 External Component of Snapdragon 600 series

Model number

Semiconductor

technology

CPU CPU cache Memory

technology Year

APQ8064T 28 nm LP Up to 1.7 GHz quad-coreKrait 300

L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 2 MB


Q1 2013

APQ8064AB 28 nm LP Up to 1.9 GHz quad-coreKrait 300

L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 2 MB


APQ8064–1AA (Advertised as S4 Pro)

28 nm LP Up to 1.5 GHz quad-coreKrait 300

L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 2 MB

DDR3L-1600 (12.8 GB/sec)

2013

APQ8064–DEB (Advertised as S4 Pro)


L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 2 MB

DDR3L-1600 (12.8 GB/sec)

2013

APQ8064–FLO (Advertised as S4 Pro)


L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 2 MB

DDR3L-1600 (12.8 GB/sec)

2013

APQ8064M 28 nm LP Up to 1.7 GHz quad-coreKrait

L0: 4 KB + 4 KB, L1: 16 KB + 16 KB, L2: 2 MB


2013

Table 2.15 Different Models of Snapdragon 600 series

2.9 Snapdragon 800

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MSM8974 is an ARM-based SoC for

tablets and smartphones. It is built at TSMC in a 28nm HPM (High Performance

23

Mobile) HKMG process, whereas the Snapdragon 600 was manufactured in 28nm

LP. In addition to 4 CPU cores with a clock speed of up to 2.3 GHz, the chip also

integrates an Adreno 330 GPU up to 450 MHz, an LPDDR3-1600 memory

controller and various radio modules.[6]


The Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MSM8074 has a high performing CPU

with a maximum clock speed of 2,300.00 MHz. It has 4 core(s), resulting

in extremely efficient multi-tasking when compared to dual core processors.






instruction.









Each API provides an interface for high-level languages to

utilize the graphics processing options in order to deliver better graphics for

various applications.


The Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 MSM8074 has a specialized digital signal



24





External Component

Interfaces

USB 3.0

RAM Interface Dual-channel LPDDR3 SDRAM




GPS Module Type gpsOneGen 8B with GLONASS


Technology Snapdragon 200

Series

Snapdragon 400

Series

Snapdragon 600

Series

Snapdragon 800

Series

Semiconductor 45 nm LP/28 nm LP 28 nm LP 28 nm LP 14 nm FinFET

Instruction set ARMv7 ARMv8 ARMv8 ARMv7/ARMv8A

CPU Speed Quad-core Up to 1.4

GHz

Up to 1.7 GHz

Octa-core

Up to 1.7 GHz

Quad-core

2.0 + 1.55 GHz

Quad-core

CPU Quad-core Cortex-A7 Octa-core

Cortex-A53

Dual-

core+Quad-core

Cortex-A53

4+4 cores Hydra

and Cortex

Cache Type L0,L1,L2 L1,L2 L0,L1,L2 L2

CPU Cache Up to 2 MB Up to 2 MB Up to 2 MB Up to 2 MB

GPU Adreno 304 Adreno 405 Adreno 510 Adreno 530

GPU Support WXGA/720p Up to FHD

1080p

Quad

HD2560x1600 4K UHD video

upscale

25

RAM

Technology LPDDR2/LPDDR3 533

MHz

LPDDR3 933

MHz

Dual-channel

LPDDR3

933 MHz

LPDDR4 1866

MHz

Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.1 Bluetooth 4.1 Bluetooth Smart

v4.1

Native Bluetooth

4.1 support

WiFi -

Multi-User

MIMO (MU-

MIMO) WiFi

VIVE 1-stream

802.11ac WiFi

802.11ac (2.4 and

5 GHz) WiFi

Table 2.17 Comparison between Snapdragon 200,400,600 & 800 series

26

CHAPTER-3

SNAPDRAGON PROCESSOR ARCHITECTURE

The Snapdragon central processing unit (CPU) uses the ARM RISC

instruction set, and a single SoC may include multiple CPU cores, a graphics

processing unit (GPU), a wireless modem, and other software and hardware to

support a smartphone's global positioning system (GPS), camera, gesture

recognition and video. Snapdragon semiconductors are embedded in most Google

Android and Windows Phone devices.

A Snapdragon Processor system on a chip or system on chip (SoC or SOC)

is an integrated circuit (IC) that integrates all components of a computer or other

electronic system into a single chip. It may contain digital, analog, mixed-signal,

and often radio-frequency functions—all on a single chip substrate.

3.1 Different components of Snapdragon processors

The Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, combines a processor cores,

Qualcomm's DSP and 4G LTE connectivity with ultra-low power consumption to

create new mobile devices which will revolutionize the world of mobile

computing. Snapdragon processor components are given below.

1. CPU (Central Processing Unit)

2. GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)

3. DSP (Digital Signal Processor)

4. Modem

5. System Security

27

Fig 3.1 Snapdragon processor block diagram

Fig 3.1 shows the different components of snapdragon processor. Mainly divided

into 7 blocks as follows Computing Engines, Cellular, Multimedia Engines,

System Security, Memory, Location and low Power Island.

3.2 CPU

A central processing unit (CPU) is the electronic circuitry within a system

that carries out the instructions of a program by performing the basic arithmetic,

logical, control and input/output (I/O) operations specified by the instructions. The

term has been used in the computer industry at least since the early 1960s

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor has been purposefully designed

to provide innovative user experiences for premium-tier mobile devices. To

deliver the type of innovation consumers expect, mobile processors must be

designed to handle increasing computing requirements, while simultaneously

using less battery power and remain cooler than ever, with thinner and lighter

designs being employed by OEMs.[8]

28

Experiences like virtual reality, computer vision, and advanced imaging are

helping expand smartphone capabilities, while also demanding more performance.

Balancing increased performance with longer battery life has always been critical

for mobile processors—and Snapdragon 820 has been designed with efficiency

throughout.

The 820 is engineered with custom-built, highly optimized cores designed

for heterogeneous computing—the ability to combine different functional cores of

the system-on-chip (SoC), like the CPU, GPU and DSP cores, to achieve

previously unattainable performance and power savings, rather than using the

same core for different tasks.

Qualcomm Technologies has been custom designing mobile processors for

over twenty-five years, and using our heterogeneous computing experience, we’ve

custom designed each of the individual cores of the Snapdragon 820 to achieve

higher efficiency so that they work together more effectively as a comprehensive

system with other onboard components, hence the term ―system-on-chip".[10]

3.2.1 Introducing Kryo

The CPU is still one of the most familiar cores on the modern SoC and is

key in setting the speed and heartbeat for the entire processor. With the

Snapdragon 820, Qualcomm Technologies is introducing Qualcomm Kryo, our

first custom-designed 64-bit quad-core CPU, as part of a comprehensive redesign

of our premium-tier mobile processor.

Kryo is tightly integrated with the Adreno 530 GPU and Hexagon 680

DSP and is designed for high-performance mobile computing along with the latest

in multimedia and connectivity. Kryo follows the popular custom Krait CPU,

which powers the Snapdragon 800, 801, and 805 processors.

3.2.2 Custom cores

Single computing component with two or more independent actual

processing units (called "cores"), which are the units that read and execute

program instructions. Custom cores for CPU to the Snapdragon processor because

customization means being able to meet the needs without compromising on

performance or battery life. Higher performance is often at odds with longer

battery life—but engineered into the first generation of Kryo.[11]

https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon/heterogeneous-computing

https://www.qualcomm.com/news/snapdragon/2015/08/12/snapdragon-820-countdown-next-gen-camera-and-gpu

https://www.qualcomm.com/news/snapdragon/2015/08/24/snapdragon-820-countdown-new-hexagon-680-dsp



https://www.qualcomm.com/products/snapdragon/processors/800



29

3.2.3 Symphony System Manager

Qualcomm Symphony System Manager because of the heterogeneous

nature of Snapdragon 820, increasingly more tasks are shared among the CPU,

GPU, and DSP, as well as with special purpose components such as the

Qualcomm Spectra camera ISP. That means even more system performance and

power savings can be achieved, when you can run the right task on the right

processor, or properly combine the right processors together for the right task.

While some processors limit their system management to CPU cores,

Symphony is designed to manage the entire system-on-chip in different

configurations so that the most efficient and effective combination of processors

and specialized cores are chosen to get the job done as quickly as possible, with

the least amount of power. For example, when a user is taking a picture,

Symphony responds to the system demand making sure that the right components

are powered up running at the needed frequency and only as long as needed. These

components include CPU, Spectra ISP, Snapdragon Display Engine, GPU, GPS,

and memory system.

Fig 3.2 Snapdragon Processors and their cpu & technology

30

Fig: The higher the Snapdragon tier, the higher the performance and the

faster the speeds

3.2.4 Cache Hierarchy

Cache memory, also called CPU memory, is low power random access

memory that a computer microprocessor can access more quickly than it can

access regular RAM. This memory is typically integrated directly with the CPU.

Fig 3.3 shows the cache hierarchy.

Fig 3.3 Snapdragon Processors cache hierarchy

The number of levels in the memory hierarchy and the performance at each

level has increased over time. The memory hierarchy of an Snapdragon Processor

is :

Level 0 (L0): Level-0 (L0) cache is operand cache and it is 5KB to 50 KB

in size. L0 is the fastest level of cache among all caches. L0 cache that was used

for accesses to the stack L0 cache has been proposed in the past as an inexpensive

way to improve performance and reduce energy consumption. The L0 cache feeds

the cores and registers.

Level 1 (L1): Level-1 (L1) cache is divided into two parts first is

instruction and another is data cache. It usually comes within the processor chip

itself. L1 cache comes between L0 and L2. Instruction cache is 128 KB in size and

Data cache is 128 KB in size. Best access speed is around 700 GB/second. The L1

cache feeds the L0 cache, and slower than the L0 memory, but faster than L2.

31

Level 2 (L2): Level-2 (L2) cache is instruction and data (shared) cache. L2

is 128KB to 1 MB in size. Best access speed is around 200 GB/second. L2 is bigger

than the primary cache It also comes within the processor chip itself. L2 cache

comes between L1 and LPRAM. The L2 cache feeds the L1 cache, and its slower

than the L1 memory, but faster than L3.

Level 3 (L3): Level-3 (L3) cache is shared cache. L3 cache is 128 KB to 6

MB in size. Best access speed is around 100 GB/second. The L3 cache feeds the

L2 cache, and its memory is typically slower than the L2 memory, but faster than

main memory.

Fig 3.4 Snapdragon Processors memory arrangement

3.2.5 RAM

Mobile RAM (also known as mDDR, Low Power DDR, Mobile DDR, or

LPDDR) is a type of double data rate synchronous DRAM for mobile computers.

Snapdragon uses LPDDR4 technology with clock speed of 16MHz.

Just as with standard SDRAM, each generation of LPDDR has doubled the

internal fetch size and external transfer speed. Maximum transfer rates are:

32

LPDDR generations

LPDDR1 LPDDR2 LPDDR3 LPDDR4

Internal access rate 200 MHz 200 MHz 200 MHz 200 MHz

Prefetch size 2n 4n 8n 16n

Clock frequency 200 MHz 400 MHz 800 MHz 1600 MHz

Data transfer rate

(DDR) 400 MT/s 800 MT/s 1600 MT/s 3200 MT/s

Supply voltage(s) 1.8 V 1.2 V, 1.8

V 1.2 V, 1.8 V 1.1 V, 1.8 V

Command/

Address bus

19 bits,

SDR

10 bits,

DDR

10 bits,

DDR 6 bits, SDR

Table 3.1 Comparison between LPDDR1, LPDDR2, LPDDR3 & LPDDR4

3.3 GPU

GPUs are an essential part of those chipsets and as mobile games are

pushing the boundaries of their capabilities, the GPU performance is becoming

increasingly important. A graphics processing unit (GPU), also occasionally called

visual processing unit (VPU), is a specialized electronic circuit designed to rapidly

manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer

intended for output to a display.

Qualcomm Technologies introduced our next-generation visual processing

technologies with the latest versions of the Qualcomm Adreno GPU and

Qualcomm Spectra camera ISP (image signal processor) to bring significant

performance, power efficiency, and user experience advances to upcoming

Qualcomm Snapdragon processors.

Fig. 3.5 & Fig 3.6 shows the comparison between Adreno 400 and Adreno

500 series

33

Fig 3.5 Snapdragon Processors GPU graph

The Adreno series of graphics processing units (GPUs) are semiconductor

intellectual property cores developed by Qualcomm and used in a variety of their

SoCs. The core was initially developed under the Imageon brand name by ATI

Technologies, which was acquired by AMD in 2006. After the buyout in January

2009, Qualcomm renamed the Imageon products to Adreno.

Fig 3.6 Snapdragon Processors GPU performance graph

34

3.4 DSP (Digital Signal Processor)

Qualcomm Technologies developed the Hexagon Digital Signal Processor

(DSP) as a world class processor with both CPU and DSP functionality to support

deeply embedded processing needs of the mobile platform for both multimedia

and modem functions. It is an advanced, variable instruction length, Very Long

Instruction Word (VLIW) processor architecture with hardware multi -threading.

The Hexagon architecture and family of cores provides Qualcomm Technologies a

competitive advantage in performance and power efficiency for modem and multi-

media applications and is a key component of all of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon

processors. [9] Fig 3.7 shows the threading of DSP.

Fig 3.7 Snapdragon Processors DSP threading

All instructions operate on a shared 32-entry per-thread register file. Vector

operations use register pairs from the general register file. The ISA features a rich

set of DSP arithmetic support including 16-bit and 32-bit fractional and complex

data types, 32-bit floating-point and full 64-bit integer arithmetic support.

There are two main new features to the Hexagon 680. The first is a

completely separate DSP for sensor processing. The aptly named ―low power

island‖ is designed to improve the battery life of always-on use cases, including

step or activity counters as well as sensor-assisted positioning (using your phones’

sensors to provide more accurate location when you don’t have a strong GPS

signal).

35

Snapdragon

generation

DSP Frequency,

MHz

Process

node, nm

S1 600 65

S2 256 45

S3 400 45

S4 500 28

S4 500 28

S4 500 28

S200 384 45 LP

S400 500 28 LP

S600 500 28 LP

S800 600 28 HPm

Table 3.2 Snapdragon DSP frequency

The second feature brings a new level of horsepower to Hexagon in the

form of HVX (Hexagon Vector eXtensions). This added hardware supports

advanced imaging and computer vision when paired with the Qualcomm Spectra

camera ISP. For example, in low-light situations, the Snapdragon 820 will use the

ISP and DSP to adaptively brighten areas of both video and photos that would

otherwise appear too dark. With Hexagon 680, the Snapdragon 820 is engineered

to perform this action several times faster and at only 10% of the power. [9] Fig

3.8 shows the comparison b/w different DSP and Fig 3.9 shows lesser power

consumption.

Fig 3.8 Snapdragon Processors DSP performance graph

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualcomm_Hexagon#cite_note-specs2012-07-21



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualcomm_Hexagon#cite_note-qualcomm-x00-2013-24

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualcomm_Hexagon#cite_note-qualcomm-x00-2013-24

36

Fig 3.9 Snapdragon Processors DSP comparison graph

3.5 MODEM

Qualcomm Snapdragon LTE Modems deliver fast, smooth, and reliable

voice and data performance to today’s smartest devices. With built-in intelligence,

Snapdragon LTE Modems automatically connect to the best available network,

supporting a virtually always-on connection and a rich user experience. Browse,

share, sync, stream and talk from almost anywhere. Advanced connectivity from

Snapdragon enables your device to do more.

The Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ X12 LTE Modem is a Category 12

(downlink)/13 (uplink) LTE cellular modem that supports LTE Advanced Carrier

Aggregation (CA) and higher order modulation, for download speeds of up to 600

Mbps, upload speeds of up to 150 Mbps, CA across TDD and FDD spectrum, LTE

in unlicensed (LTE-U), and LTE+Wi-Fi link aggregation (LWA)

37

Fig 3.10 Snapdragon Processors higher order modulation

Fig. 3.10 shows higher order of modulation.X12 LTE Modem is the first

commercially announced mobile processor to support:

LTE Category 12 downloads speeds of up to 600 Mbps: Yes, 600 Mbps — as

in ―we just passed the half-a-gigabit mark.‖ That’s a full 33 percent faster than the

peak download speeds of the X10 LTE modem in the Snapdragon 810, which

supported up to Cat 9 (450 Mbps). Why? Because you’ve got big files to

download from cloud storage, an Instagram feed to peruse, and high resolution

videos to stream. And we want to help you do it all faster and smoother.

LTE Category 13 uplink speeds of up to 150 Mbps : That’s triple the peak upload

speeds supported by X10 LTE in the Snapdragon 810. Triple. Why? Because

Snapdragon 820 is designed to help you take amazing pictures and videos, and we

want to help you share them even faster with your friends and family. And

because you need high uplink bandwidth to look your best in your next Periscope

broadcast.

38

LTE in Unlicensed (LTE-U): Increasing mobile network capacity and user

throughput by aggregating LTE in licensed and unlicensed bands.

Antenna sharing: The X12 supports several antenna sharing schemes between

LTE and Wi-Fi, designed to make it easier for manufacturers to design devices

with advanced technologies like LTE-U, 4x4 LTE MIMO, and 2-stream Wi-Fi,

with attractive form factors and minimal performance impact on either technology.

3.6 System Security

Security is most important issue in these days. Today's mobile users need

more robust security to address ever-increasing threats to device security and

privacy. And they need that in the form of power-efficient solutions that don’t

interfere with the use of their devices. The Qualcomm® Haven™ Security

Solutions suite is designed to provide exactly that: a robust, multidimensional suite

of mobile security technologies, engineered for performance and efficiency in

today's complex mobile environment.

Fig 3.11 Snapdragon Processors security module

39

Why Snapdragon Smart Protect?

End-users and enterprises, along with their devices and data, are under

increasing attack from mobile malware. Thousands of new mobile malware apps

are generated each day. And traditional, signature-based anti-malware apps alone

aren't able to detect and stop all of them.

Personal Protection

Snapdragon Smart Protect is engineered to support robust security and

enhanced personal privacy for today's mobile environment, empowering users

with greater control over their personal data by detecting and classifying a broader

range of spyware, adware and other malicious app behavior.

Superior Behavioral-based detection

Most anti-malware solutions catch malware by matching the signature file

of an already-known malware app to a file in their database. Snapdragon Smart

Protect uses Qualcomm® Zeroth™ cognitive computing technology within the

Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 820 processor to look at actual, real-time application

behavior to almost instantly detect suspicious behavior from even the newest or

"zero-day" malware.

Snapdragon Smart Protect is designed to enable OEMs and mobile security

solution providers to enhance traditional anti-malware and privacy protection

services with real-time, behavioral-based machine learning. Snapdragon Smart

Protect is engineered to complement existing signature-based anti-malware

solutions by analyzing and detecting new threats before the signature files of these

malicious applications have been incorporated into anti-malware application

databases. Snapdragon Smart Protect also is designed to classify detected malware

according to level of severity and offer specific reasons why a particular process

or behavior was detected as suspicious.

Power-efficient performance

Snapdragon Smart Protect is made to offer optimal performance through

on-device design and uniquely deep access to the hardware and software of the

40

Snapdragon 820 processor, supporting malware detection and critical data

processing on the device, rather than in the cloud. By doing behavioral analysis on

the device, Snapdragon Smart Protect is designed to detect and classify new and

transformed malware quickly and efficiently.[4]

41

CHAPTER-4

SNAPDRAGON PROCESSOR TECHNOLOGY

Qualcomm Snapdragon Processors are latest in technology there are

various smart technologies used which make it smarter than other and efficient in

terms of power consumption. These are given below :

1. Semiconductor Technology

2. Instruction Set

4.1 Semiconductor Technology

Semiconductor Technology is actually semiconductor device fabrication.

Semiconductor device fabrication is the process used to create the integrated

circuits. It is a multiple-step sequence of photo lithographic and chemical

processing steps during which electronic circuits are gradually created on a wafer

made of pure semiconducting material. Silicon is almost always used, but various

compound semiconductors are used for specialized applications.

4.1.1 65nm semiconductor technology

The 65 nanometer (65 nm) process is advanced lithographic node used in

volume CMOS semiconductor fabrication. Printed linewidths (i.e., transistor gate

lengths) can reach as low as 25 nm on a nominally 65 nm process, while the pitch

between two lines may be greater than 130 nm.

42

Fig 4.1 Snapdragon Processors 65nm technology

Example: 65 nm process

Gate length: 30 nm (high-performance) to 50 nm (low-power)

Core voltage: 1.0 V

11 Cu interconnect layers using nano-clustering silica as ultralow k

dielectric (k=2.25)

Metal 1 pitch: 180 nm

Nickel silicide source/drain

Gate oxide thickness: 1.9 nm (n), 2.1 nm (p)

Some Snapdragon Processor S1 are using 65 nm manufacturing technology

4.1.2 45nm semiconductor technology

45 nanometer (45 nm) technology node should refer to the average half-

pitch of a memory cell manufactured at around the 2007–2008 time frame. Many

critical feature sizes are smaller than the wavelength of light used for lithography

(i.e., 193 nm and 248 nm). A variety of techniques, such as larger lenses, are used

to make sub-wavelength features

43


Example: 45nm process

160 nm gate pitch (73% of 65 nm generation)

200 nm isolation pitch (91% of 65 nm generation) indicating a slowing of

scaling of isolation distance between transistors

Extensive use of dummy copper metal and dummy gates

35 nm gate length (same as 65 nm generation)

1 nm equivalent oxide thickness, with 0.7 nm transition layer

Gate-last process using dummy polysilicon and damascene metal gate

Squaring of gate ends using a second photoresist coating

9 layers of carbon-doped oxide and Cu interconnect, the last being a thick

"redistribution" layer

Contacts shaped more like rectangles than circles for local interconnection

Lead-free packaging

1.36 mA/um nFET drive current

1.07 mA/um pFET drive current, 51% faster than 65 nm generation, with

higher hole mobility due to increase from 23% to 30% Ge in embedded SiGe

stressors

44

Some Snapdragon Processor S1, Snapdragon Processor S2, Snapdragon Processor

S3, Snapdragon Processor S4 and Snapdragon Processor 200 series are using 45

nm manufacturing technology.[4]

4.1.3 28nm LP semiconductor technology

The 28nm generation represents most energy-efficient and high-

performance method of manufacturing to date. 28nm is the first generation that

foundry industry starts to use high-K metal gate (HKMG) process. The 28nm High

Performance Mobile Computing (HPM) provides high performance for mobile

applications to address the need for applications requiring high speed. Such

technology can provide the highest speed among 28nm technologies. With such

higher performance coverage, 28HPM is ideal for many applications from

networking, and high-end Smartphone/ mobile consumer products.[14]

Some Snapdragon Processor S4, Snapdragon Processor 200 series,

Snapdragon Processor 400 series, Snapdragon Processor 600 series and

Snapdragon Processor 800 series are using 28 nm manufacturing technology

4.1.4 14 nm FinFET semiconductor technology

The 14 nanometer (14 nm) semiconductor device fabrication node is the

technology node following the 22 nm/(20 nm) node. The naming of this

technology node as "14 nm" came from the International Technology Roadmap for

Semiconductors (ITRS). A 14nm FinFET design combines the optimized area and

performance boost required for next-generation platforms while also ensuring very

low power dissipation.

FinFET, also known as Fin Field Effect Transistor, is a type of non-planar

or "3D"transistor used in the design of modern processors. As in earlier, planar

designs, it is built on an SOI (silicon on insulator) substrate. However, FinFET

designs also use a conducting channel that rises above the level of the insulator,

http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/t/transist.htm

http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/c/cpu.htm

http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/s/soi.htm

45

creating a thin silicon structure, shaped like a fin, which is called agate electrode.

This fin-shaped electrode allows multiple gates to operate on a single transistor.[4]

14LPE – Early time-to-market version with area and power benefits for mobility

applications

14LPP – Enhanced version with higher performance and lower power; a full

platform offering with MPW, IP enablement and wide application coverage


4.2 Instruction Set

An instruction set, or instruction set architecture (ISA), is the part of the

computer architecture related to programming, including the native data

types, instructions, registers, addressing modes, memory architecture, interrupt

and exception handling, and external I/O.

http://www.computerhope.com/jargon/l/logicgat.htm

46

Snapdragon uses following instruction sets

1. ARMv6

2. ARMv7

3. ARMv8

4.2.1 ARMv6

ARMv6 is aimed at the very low end of the 32-bit microcontroller space,

enabling very low gate-count designs with very simple and highly efficient micro

architecture. Several features of ARMv7 are not available to enable this simplicity.

The following is a summary of the major changes:

The ARMv6 instruction set is the smallest supported by any ARM processors,

numbering just 57 distinct instructions. With the exception of 6 OS-type

instructions, all are 16-bit.

Privileged execution is an implementation-option (meaning that it may be

included or excluded from the device during the chip design process). This is

referred to as the ―Unprivileged/Privileged Extension‖

The SysTick timer is an implementation-option.

The maximum number of external interrupts is limited to 32 and only four

priority levels are available.

Halting debug support is optional.

Memory accesses must always be naturally aligned.

Exclusive accesses are not supported.

The Memory Protection Unit is available as an implementation-option (the

PMSA Extension). It is currently supported only by the Cortex-M0+.

47

4.2.2 ARMv7

This generation introduced the Thumb 16-bit instruction set providing

improved code density compared to previous designs. The most widely used

ARM7 designs implement the ARMv4T architecture. All these designs use Von

Neumann architecture, thus the few versions comprising a cache do not separate

data and instruction caches. The processor supports both 32-bit and 16-bit

instructions via the ARM and Thumb instruction sets.[12]

The following is a summary of the major changes:

Higher Instructions per cycle

New and more complex instruction sets are added

Additional cache memory compare to previous model

A Thumb-2 extension is used.

Armv7 architecture has a "NEON" unit that provides blindingly fast

hardware support for single precision floating point arithmetic

ARMv6 ARMv7

1 Lower IPC((instructions per

clocks) 1 Higher IPC

2 Less instructions 2 More complex instruction sets

3 Old design 3 New deisgn

4 Less cache memory 4 More cache memory

5 Thumb-1 extensions 5 Thumb-2 extensions

6

Architecture has hardware support

for double precision floating point

arithmetic

6

Armv7 architecture has a "NEON" unit that

provides blindingly fast hardware support

for single precision floating point arithmetic

Table 4.1 Comparison between ARMv6 & ARMv7

48

4.2.3 ARMv8

The ARMv8 architecture introduces 64-bit support to the ARM architecture

with a focus on power-efficient implementation while maintaining compatibility

with existing 32-bit software. By adopting a clean approach ARMv8-A processors

extend the performance range available while maintaining the low power

consumption characteristics of the ARM processors that will power tomorrow's

most innovative and efficient devices.

ARMv8-A introduces 64-bit architecture support to the ARM architecture

and includes:

64-bit general purpose registers, SP (stack pointer) and PC (program counter)

64-bit data processing and extended virtual addressing

Two main execution states:

AArch64 - The 64-bit execution state including exception model, memory

model, programmers' model and instruction set support for that state

AArch32 - The 32-bit execution state including exception model, memory

model, programmers' model and instruction set support for that state

The execution states support three key instruction sets:

A32 (or ARM): a 32-bit fixed length instruction set, enhanced through the

different architecture variants. Part of the 32-bit architecture execution

environment now referred to as AArch32.

T32 (Thumb) introduced as a 16-bit fixed-length instruction set,

subsequently enhanced to a mixed-length 16- and 32-bit instruction set on the

introduction of Thumb-2 technology. Part of the 32-bit architecture execution

environment now referred to as AArch32.

A64 is a 64-bit fixed-length instruction set that offers similar functionality

to the ARM and Thumb instruction sets. Introduced with ARMv8-A, it is the

AArch64 instruction set.[13]

49

SN ARMv7 ARMv8

1 Full supports both 32-bit and 16-bit

instructions, not support for 64-bit

Full native 32-bit execution, side-by-side

with 64-bit

2 Old 32-bit architecture New, modern, A64 instruction set

architecture (ISA)

3 only regular registers are available Double the number (and size) of registers

4 instructions for 16-bit and 32-bit New instructions for both A32 and A64

5 complex instruction set Cleaner instruction set architecture

6 no acceleration is available Up to 16x crypto acceleration

7 not support for big.LITTLE technology Fits well with big.LITTLE technology

8 supports thumb-2 T32 thumb is introduced

Table 4.2 Comparison between ARMv7 & ARMv8