Datasheet
2 The Cortex-M3 Processor
The ARM® Cortex™-M3 processor provides a high-performance, low-cost platform that meets the
system requirements of minimal memory implementation, reduced pin count, and low power
consumption, while delivering outstanding computational performance and exceptional system
response to interrupts. Features include:
■ Compact core.
■ Thumb-2 instruction set, delivering the high-performance expected of an ARM core in the memory
size usually associated with 8- and 16-bit devices; typically in the range of a few kilobytes of
memory for microcontroller class applications.
■ Rapid application execution through Harvard architecture characterized by separate buses for
instruction and data.
■ Exceptional interrupt handling, by implementing the register manipulations required for handling
an interrupt in hardware.
■ Deterministic, fast interrupt processing: always 12 cycles, or just 6 cycles with tail-chaining
■ Memory protection unit (MPU) to provide a privileged mode of operation for complex applications.
■ Migration from the ARM7™ processor family for better performance and power efficiency.
■ Full-featured debug solution
– Serial Wire JTAG Debug Port (SWJ-DP)
– Flash Patch and Breakpoint (FPB) unit for implementing breakpoints
– Data Watchpoint and Trigger (DWT) unit for implementing watchpoints, trigger resources,
and system profiling
– Instrumentation Trace Macrocell (ITM) for support of printf style debugging
– Trace Port Interface Unit (TPIU) for bridging to a Trace Port Analyzer
■ Optimized for single-cycle flash usage
■ Three sleep modes with clock gating for low power
■ Single-cycle multiply instruction and hardware divide
■ Atomic operations
■ ARM Thumb2 mixed 16-/32-bit instruction set
■ 1.25 DMIPS/MHz
The Stellaris
®
family of microcontrollers builds on this core to bring high-performance 32-bit computing
to cost-sensitive embedded microcontroller applications, such as factory automation and control,
industrial control power devices, building and home automation, and stepper motor control.
June 18, 201256
Texas Instruments-Production Data
The Cortex-M3 Processor
NRND: Not recommended for new designs.