TABLE OF CONTENTS Aside from memory, peripheral options, and operation speed, a number of other factors make one Cortex-M3 products different from another. The Cortex-M3 design supplied by ARM contains a number of features that are configurable, such as:
Number of external interrupts
Number of interrupt priority levels (width of priority-level registers)
With MPU or without MPU
With ETM or without ETM
Choice of debug interface (Serial-Wire, JTAG, or both)
In most projects, the features and specification of the microcontroller will certainly affect your choice of Cortex-M3 product. For example:
Peripherals: For many applications, peripheral support is the main criterion. More peripherals might be good, but this also affects the microcontroller's power consumption and price.
Memory: Cortex-M3 microcontrollers can have Flash memory from several kilobytes to several megabytes. In addition, the size of the internal memory might also be important. Usually these factors will have a direct impact on the price.
Clock speed: The Cortex-M3 design from ARM can easily reach more than 100MHz, even in 0.18 um processes. However, manufacturers might specify a lower operation speed due to limitations of memory access speed.
Footprint: The Cortex-M3 can be available in many different packages, depending on the chip manufacturer's decision. Many Cortex-M3 devices are available in low pin count packages, making them ideal for low-cost manufacturing environments.
Early versions of Cortex-M3 products were based on revision 0 of the Cortex-M3 processor. Products based on Cortex-M3 revision 1 were available since the...
