A RISC processor for embedded applications within an ASIC

The VL86C010 processor, which is well suited to RISC applications because of its small die size, low power dissipation, and low pin count, is presented. This RISC processor family was designed for maximum system performance at minimum cost, rather than maximum CPU performance at any cost. The components of the system CPU, memory controller, IO controller, and video controller were partitioned to take advantage of less-expensive plastic IC packages and, more importantly, less-expensive dynamic RAM devices (DRAMs) by using their page mode of operation. These components are described, and the processor performance is examined