Memory Interface
ARM DDI 0210C
Copyright © 2001, 2004 ARM Limited. All rights reserved.
3-29
3.7
Stretching access times
The ARM7TDMI processor does not contain any dynamic logic that relies on regular
clocking to maintain the internal state. Therefore, there is no limit upon the maximum
period for which
MCLK
can be stretched, or
nWAIT
held LOW. There are two
methods available to stretch access times as described in:
•
Modulating MCLK
•
Use of nWAIT to control bus cycles
.
Note
If you wish to use an
Embedded Trace Macrocell
(ETM) to obtain instruction and data
trace information on a trace port then you must use the
nWAIT
signal to stretch access
times.
3.7.1
Modulating MCLK
All memory timing is defined by
MCLK
, and long access times can be accommodated
by stretching this clock. It is usual to stretch the LOW period of
MCLK
, because this
enables the memory manager to abort the operation if the access is eventually
unsuccessful.
MCLK
can be stretched before being applied to the processor, or the
nWAIT
input can
be used together with a free-running
MCLK
. Taking
nWAIT
LOW has the same effect
as stretching the LOW period of
MCLK.
3.7.2
Use of nWAIT to control bus cycles
The pipelined nature of the processor bus interface means that there is a distinction
between
clock
cycles and
bus
cycles.
nWAIT
can be used to stretch a
bus
cycle, so that
it lasts for many
clock
cycles. The
nWAIT
input allows the timing of bus cycles to be
extended in increments of complete
MCLK
cycles:
•
when
nWAIT
is HIGH on the rising edge of
MCLK
, a bus cycle completes
•
when
nWAIT
is sampled LOW, the bus cycle is extended by stretching the low
phase of the internal clock.
nWAIT
must only change during the LOW phase of
MCLK.
In the pipeline, the address class signals and the memory request signals are ahead of
the data transfer by one bus cycle. In a system using
nWAIT
this can be more than one
MCLK
cycle. This is illustrated in Figure 3-21 on page 3-30, which shows
nWAIT
being used to extend a nonsequential cycle. In the example, the first N-cycle is followed
a few cycles later by another N-cycle to an unrelated address, and the address for the
second access is broadcast before the first access completes.
Summary of Contents for ARM7TDMI
Page 6: ...Contents vi Copyright 2001 2004 ARM Limited All rights reserved ARM DDI 0210C ...
Page 10: ...List of Tables x Copyright 2001 2004 ARM Limited All rights reserved ARM DDI 0210C ...
Page 14: ...List of Figures xiv Copyright 2001 2004 ARM Limited All rights reserved ARM DDI 0210C ...
Page 46: ...Introduction 1 26 Copyright 2001 2004 ARM Limited All rights reserved ARM DDI 0210C ...
Page 120: ...Coprocessor Interface 4 18 Copyright 2001 2004 ARM Limited All rights reserved ARM DDI 0210C ...
Page 142: ...Debug Interface 5 22 Copyright 2001 2004 ARM Limited All rights reserved ARM DDI 0210C ...
Page 282: ...Glossary Glossary 6 Copyright 2001 2004 ARM Limited All rights reserved ARM DDI 0210C ...