Microcontroller Delivers Ultra-Low Power Plus AI
What you'll learn:
- Construction of the new Atomiq SoC.
- Details behind its low-power operation.
Ambiq’s SPOT-based microcontroller series now has a new edition that sports a neural processing unit (NPU). The Atomiq family (see figure) builds on its low-power Cortex-M platform with an NPU that takes advantage of the company’s Sub-threshold Power Optimized Technology (SPOT). The system-on-chip (SoC) can run using as little as 300 mV. I talked with Dan Cermak, VP Architecture at Ambiq, about the new Atomiq SoC.
The Atomiq family is built on TSMC’s 12-nm FinFET process along with Ambiq’s SPOT technology. The NPU is based on Arm’s Ethos-U85 NPU with its configurable MAC engine. The low-power operation is done using a redesigned on-chip power management unit with a configurable, multichannel single-inductor multiple-output (SIMO) buck converter.
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William G. Wong
Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF
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I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.
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