STMicroelectronics claims to have made a breakthrough in low
power microprocessor development after teaming up with the very
clever boffins from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT). ST had been taking part in what is described as an
advanced research and development project, and developed a
voltage scalable 32-bit System on-Chip (SoC) which has managed
“extreme energy efficiency”. ST seems pretty excited about the
“breakthrough” chip which it reckons can enable an “entirely new
generation of microprocessors” for use in applications where
long battery life is essential. According to ST vice president
Alessandro Cremonesi, the SoC will be well suited to life in
wireless sensors and implantable medical devices thanks to work
alongside MITs Microsystems Technology Laboratories. The SRAM
cell can operate at 0.4V, while SoC reduces power to 10.2
pJ/cycle at 0.54 V. There is also ultra low power clock
generation and analog to digital conversion, while all timers
and serial interfaces have been developed