Block Diagram
81
SLAU723A – October 2017 – Revised October 2018
Copyright © 2017–2018, Texas Instruments Incorporated
Cortex
®
-M4F Processor
For technical details on the instruction set, see the Cortex-M4 instruction set chapter in the
1.2
Block Diagram
The Cortex-M4F processor is built on a high-performance processor core, with a 3-stage pipeline Harvard
architecture, making it ideal for demanding embedded applications. The processor delivers exceptional
power efficiency through an efficient instruction set and extensively optimized design, providing high-end
processing hardware; this hardware includes IEEE 754-compliant single-precision floating-point
computation, a range of single-cycle and SIMD multiplication and multiply-with-accumulate capabilities,
saturating arithmetic, and dedicated hardware division.
To facilitate the design of cost-sensitive devices, the Cortex-M4F processor implements tightly coupled
system components that reduce processor area while significantly improving interrupt handling and system
debug capabilities. The Cortex-M4F processor implements a version of the Thumb instruction set based
on Thumb-2 technology, ensuring high code density and reduced program memory requirements. The
Cortex-M4F instruction set provides the exceptional performance expected of a modern 32-bit
architecture, with the high code density of 8-bit and 16-bit microcontrollers.
The Cortex-M4F processor closely integrates a nested vectored interrupt controller (NVIC), to deliver
industry-leading interrupt performance. The NVIC includes a nonmaskable interrupt (NMI) and provides
eight interrupt priority levels. The tight integration of the processor core and NVIC provides fast execution
of interrupt service routines (ISRs), dramatically reducing interrupt latency. The hardware stacking of
registers and the ability to suspend load-multiple and store-multiple operations further reduce interrupt
latency. Interrupt handlers do not require any assembler stubs, which removes code overhead from the
ISRs. Tail-chaining optimization also significantly reduces the overhead when switching from one ISR to
another. To optimize low-power designs, the NVIC integrates with the sleep modes, including deep-sleep
mode, which enables rapid power down of the entire device.
shows the CPU block diagram.
Figure 1-1. CPU Block Diagram