A partnership between Tensilica Inc. and eASIC Corp. aims to lower the cost of developing custom embedded SoCs by enabling eASIC to provide free access to Tensilica’s Diamond Standard microprocessor and DSP cores for its free mask charge, no-minimum-order ASICs. Through this partnership, embedded system designers can now develop Diamond processor-based SoCs for applications in any production volume. Reportedly, designers will now be able to develop customized, highly differentiated ASICs at a lower cost than FPGA-based embedded systems. Tensilica’s processors range from a very small, low-power 32-bit controller up to high-end DSP cores and a multifunction audio processor that has been designed into millions of cellular phones. The Diamond Standard family includes several models:
- the 106Micro is the industry’s smallest cacheless, 32-bit RISC controller core;
- the 108Mini is a small cacheless 32-bit RISC controller with built-in DSP capabilities;
- the 212GP is a flexible mid-range 32-bit RISC controller;
- the 232L is a mid-range 32-bit CPU with MMU for Linux OS support;
- the 570T is a high-end 32-bit CPU core;
- the 545CK is a high performance DSP core;
- and the 330HiFi is a low-power, 24-bit audio DSP processor supported with popular audio and speech codecs