Built on Samsung Foundry 28nm FD-SOI process technology, the Musca-S1 test chip demonstrates a new choice in SoC design for IoT solutions

News Highlights

• Arm debuts eMRAM-enabled test chip on Samsung Foundry process technology, including capability to run Mbed OS and Arm Pelion IoT platform
• The Musca-S1 test chip demonstrates capabilities of FD-SOI body biasing and eMRAM technology to be used in SoC designs for highly energy-efficient IoT devices
• Test chip and development board are expected to be available for evaluation to IoT device designers by Q4 2019

SAN JOSE, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — May 14, 2019 — Today at the Samsung Foundry Forum, Arm, in collaboration with Samsung Foundry, Cadence, and Sondrel, demonstrated the first 28nm fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) embedded MagnetoResistive Random Access Memory (eMRAM) IoT test chip and development board. The Musca-S1 is designed to offer more choice to IoT designers in their system-on-chip (SoC) development journey. Designers can now easily implement more secure, holistic IoT solutions, enabling them to focus more on core product differentiation and accelerating time-to-market.

“The promise of a world transformed by a trillion connected devices is not far in the future, but for IoT devices to scale we must continue to put a range of technology options in front of designers to test and evaluate,” said Gus Yeung, VP, GM and Fellow, Physical Design Group, Arm. “This collaboration has yielded a true end-to-end solution that ensures IoT designers can prototype their product designs from device-to-data security.”

Relative to previous Musca solutions, the Musca-S1 test chip board now includes testing and evaluation of new eMRAM technology for reliable, low-power and secure device development through secure memory implementation. eMRAM technology offers advantages over traditional embedded flash (eFlash) memory technology, as it can easily scale below 40nm process technology, giving SoC designers more flexibility to scale their memory needs based on the memory and power requirements of various use-cases.

Musca-S1 test chip demonstrates a combination of on-chip power control, Samsung Foundry’s Reverse Body Biasing (RBB) and eMRAM non-volatile memory power shutdown, allowing for testing and evaluation of new classes of highly energy-efficient, controlled IoT devices. And for the first time on Samsung Foundry silicon, designers will have the opportunity to run Arm^® Mbed^™OS as well as test device and data management capabilities using the Arm Pelion^™ IoT platform.

By combining Arm IP and software solutions on a single board, IoT designers can test and evaluate Arm’s end-to-end secure IoT solution, showcasing highly energy-efficient and secure IoT at scale. Additionally, the Musca-S1 test chip board can further reduce costs and time-to-market by giving designers the flexibility to repurpose the reference design for future products.

Musca-S1 test chip and development board

• Has achieved PSA Certified Level 1 certification and brings together key components of the Arm IoT security portfolio including Arm CryptoCell-300 Family, Arm Coresight™, Arm TrustZone^®, and Trusted Firmware-M (TF-M).
• Powered by Arm Cortex^®-M33 cores, built with Arm Corstone™-200 secure foundation IP and hardware verified using Arm Keil^® MDK and ULINK-Plus™ probe.
• Utilizes Sondrel’s design services to accelerate development schedules for designers.
• Reduces design risks using digital implementation, signoff and verification flow and standards-based IP from Cadence.

Availability and more information

The Musca-S1 test chip and development board is on display at Samsung Foundry Forum North America in San Jose, CA as part of an air sensor IoT application demo, featuring the device and data management capabilities of the Arm Pelion IoT platform.

The Musca-S1 will be available in limited quantities in Q3 2019, and is targeted for loan to customers in Q4 2019. Contact Arm for more information on the Musca-S1 test chip and development board.

Supporting Quotes

Jaehong Park, executive vice president of Design Platform Development, Samsung Electronics