The Designer's Guide to the Cortex-M Processor Family, 3rd Edition

Chapter 6

Cortex-M7 Processor

Abstract

This chapter will examine the Cortex-M7 processor. This processor is currently the highest performing Cortex-M7 processor. This is mainly down to architectural improvements which operate “Under the hood.” However, the Cortex-M7 also introduces new memory units including Tightly Coupled Memory along with instruction and data caches. Correct use of these new memory regions is essential to getting the best performance from the Cortex-M7.

Keywords

Cortex-M7; Superscalar; TCM; Tightly Coupled Memory; Data Cache; Instruction cache; AXI Bus; BTAC; Branch Target Address Cache

Introduction

In chapter three of this book, we have looked at the Cortex M0, M0+, M3, and M4 processors which have a common programmer’s model. ...