Freescale's e200 Core Family Built on Power Architecture Technology: Overview and Licensing Model

Freescale's e200 family of high-efficiency cores, built on Power Architecture technology, is intended for cost-sensitive, embedded real-time performance-driven applications where interrupt responsiveness and low power consumption are important considerations. For example, the e200 core family drives Freescale's leading MPC5500 family of automotive microcontrollers (MCUs).

Freescale is working with intellectual property (IP) vendor IPextreme to openly license the e200 core family to system-on-chip (SoC) and application-specific standard product (ASSP) designers. The licensable IP products include the e200z0, e200z1, e200z3 and e200z6 cores—all based on Power instruction set architecture (ISA) version 2.03. The compact Power ISA requires minimal silicon investment, allowing designers to employ advanced integration techniques to pack an RISC processor core and multiple peripherals onto a highly functional chip with low power consumption and heat generation characteristics.

With e200 core technology now available to the embedded market, designing SoCs and ASSPs built on Power Architecture technology has never been easier. This white paper reviews the e200 core family technical capabilities and licensing model.