Tutorials » Microcontrollers » ARM Microcontroller Tutorial: Cortex-M0 and Cortex-M3 Series

ARM Microcontroller Tutorial: Cortex-M0 and Cortex-M3 Series

arm microcontroller cortex m3 cortex m0 embedded system risc architecture

This tutorial provides an overview of ARM microcontrollers, focusing on the Cortex-M0 and Cortex-M3 series.

About ARM

ARM Holding plc is a leading semiconductor IP (Intellectual Property) supplier globally. Today, you’ll find ARM technology powering a vast array of digital electronic products.

ARM doesn’t manufacture chips themselves. Instead, the company licenses its technology to semiconductor manufacturers and OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers). This licensing model allows ARM to thrive in today’s rapidly evolving business landscape. Semiconductor companies then use this licensed ARM technology to develop chips that go into various devices. These range from mobile devices like smartphones to consumer electronics like digital TVs, hard disk drives, and even washing machines.

The ARM Cortex-M series microcontrollers represent the latest generation of microcontroller cores from ARM. They offer a compelling combination of high performance, low cost, and low power consumption, thanks to their 32-bit RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) processors.

The ARM Cortex-M3 and Cortex-M0 processor-based MCUs (Microcontroller Units) are particularly popular due to their 32-bit architecture and other features detailed below.

Let’s explore the features of the Cortex-M3 and compare it to the older 8051 series microcontroller architecture developed by Intel.

ARM Cortex-M3 MCU Features

  • Cortex-M3: An ARM processor designed primarily for microcontroller applications.
  • Architecture: ARMv7-M (Harvard architecture)
  • ISA Support: Thumb® or Thumb-2
  • Pipeline: 3-stage + branch speculation
  • Dhrystone: 1.25 DMIPS/MHz (Performance Efficiency)
  • Memory Protection: Optional 8-region MPU (Memory Protection Unit) with sub-regions and background region
  • Interrupts: Non-maskable Interrupt, 1 to 240 physical interrupts
  • Interrupt Latency: 12 Cycles
  • Interrupt Priority Levels: 8 to 256 priority levels
  • Wake-up Interrupt Controller: Up to 240 Wake-up Interrupts
  • Sleep Modes: Integrated WFI (Wait For Interrupt) and WFE (Wait For Event) Instructions and Sleep On Exit capability. Sleep & Deep Sleep Signals.
  • Bit Manipulation: Integrated Instructions & Bit Banding
  • Power Consumption: 0.19mW/MHz
  • Enhanced Instructions: Hardware Divide (2 to 12 Cycles), Single Cycle (32 X 32) Multiply, Saturated Math Support.
  • Debug: Optional JTAG (Joint Test Action Group) & Serial Wire Debug Ports. Up to 8 Breakpoints and 4 Watchpoints.
  • Trace: Optional Instruction Trace , Data Trace , and Instrumentation Trace

For more in-depth technical information, consult the Cortex-M3 Technical Manual at infocenter.arm.com.