CPU

The Arm® Cortex®-M33 processor has a 32-bit instruction set (Thumb®-2 technology) that implements a super set of 16- and 32-bit instructions to maximize code density and performance.

This processor implements several features that enable energy-efficient arithmetic and high-performance signal processing including:

The Arm Cortex Microcontroller Software Interface Standard (CMSIS) is implemented and available for the application processor.

Real-time execution is highly deterministic in thread mode, to and from sleep modes, and when handling events at configurable priority levels via the Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller (NVIC).

Executing code from internal or external flash will have a wait state penalty. The instruction cache can be enabled to minimize flash wait states when fetching instructions. For more information on cache, see Cache. CPU performance parameters including wait states for different configurations, CPU current consumption and efficiency, and processing power and efficiency based on the CoreMark® benchmark can be found in Electrical specification.

Floating point interrupt

The floating point unit (FPU) may generate exceptions, for example, due to overflow or underflow. These exceptions may trigger interrupts when enabled in the FPU peripheral. For more information, see FPU — Floating point unit (FPU) exceptions.

Electrical specification

CPU performance

Symbol Description Min. Typ. Max. Units
WFLASH128

CPU wait states, running CoreMark at 128 MHz from flash, cache disabled

4  
WFLASHCACHE128

CPU wait states, running CoreMark at 128 MHz from flash, cache enabled

5  
WRAM128

CPU wait states, running CoreMark at 128 MHz from RAM

0  
WFLASH64

CPU wait states, running CoreMark at 64 MHz from flash, cache disabled

5  
WFLASHCACHE64

CPU wait states, running CoreMark at 64 MHz from flash, cache enabled

6  
WRAM64

CPU wait states, running CoreMark at 64 MHz from RAM

0  
CMFLASHCACHE128

CoreMark, running from flash, cache enabled, HFXO128M

514 CoreMark
CMFLASH128/MHz

CoreMark per MHz, running from flash, cache enabled, HFXO128M

4.0 CoreMark/MHz
CMFLASH128/mA

CoreMark per mA, running from flash, cache enabled, DCDC 3 V, HFXO128M

66 CoreMark/mA
CMFLASHCACHE64

CoreMark, running from flash, cache enabled, HFXO64M

257 CoreMark
CMFLASH64/MHz

CoreMark per MHz, running from flash, cache enabled, HFXO64M

4.0 CoreMark/MHz
CMFLASH64/mA

CoreMark per mA, running from flash, cache enabled, DCDC 3 V, HFXO64M

72.5 CoreMark/mA

CPU and support module configuration

The Arm Cortex®-M33 processor has a number of CPU options and support modules implemented on the device.

Option/Module Description Implemented
Core options
PRIORITIES Priority bits 3
WIC Wakeup Interrupt Controller NO
Endianness Memory system endianness Little endian
DWT Data Watchpoint and Trace YES
Modules
MPU Number of non-secure MPU regions 8
Number of secure MPU regions 8
SAU Number of SAU regions 0

See SPU for more information about secure regions.

FPU Floating-point unit YES
DSP Digital Signal Processing Extension YES
Arm TrustZone® for Armv8-M Armv8-M Security Extensions YES
CPIF Coprocessor interface NO
ETM Embedded Trace Macrocell YES
ITM Instrumentation Trace Macrocell YES
MTB Micro Trace Buffer NO
CTI Cross Trigger Interface YES
BPU Breakpoint Unit YES
HTM AHB Trace Macrocell NO

This document was last updated on
2023-12-04.
Please send us your feedback about the documentation! For technical questions, visit the Nordic Developer Zone.