System-on-Chip (SoC)
Embedded OS
Open Source
Embedded displays (LCD)
Embedded Ethernet
Wireless
Eclipse platform
FPGA Design
JTAG
Planar transformer
Embedded multimedia
Set-top box
Mobile software platforms
Electronic products design / Technologies / System-on-Chip (SoC) / Samsung’s S3C

Samsung S3C processor family
Samsung produces highly-integrated Systems-on-Chip (SoC) built on the basis of ARM926-EJS and ARM920 processor cores. This family is designed for application in portable and embedded devices – smartphones, pocket computers and navigators (PDA and PND), etc. Below you can find a review of the two most powerful chips in this family.

Samsung S3C24xx Family

S3C2450

S3C2450 is a high-performance, cost-effective, low-power solution on the basis of 32/16-bit ARM926EJ RISC microprocessor core oriented to the market of GPS navigators and mobile phones. The chip is produced using 65nm technology, which additionally decreases power consumption and costs as well as increases performance. The chip is produced in FBGA 400-pins (0.5mm pitch), 13x13x1.4mm package.

Architecture of S3C2450 processor

Features:

  • ARM926EJ CPU with 400/533MHz speed options and 16KB I/D-cache;
  • 2-port external memory controller, up to 133 MHz;
  • 64KB SRAM;
  • 32KB ROM for secure loading and loading from moviNAND;
  • LCD controller;
  • Camera controller with 180° rotator;
  • 2D graphics accelerator;
  • DMA 8-ch, PWM, RTC, WDT, 2xPLL, power management module, 12bit 10-ch ADC (touch screen)
  • UART interfaces (3Mbps) õ4 with support of IrDA 1.0, HS-SPI(50Mbps), CF+/ATA I/F, I2C x2, I2S x2(PCM & AC97), HS-MMC/SD x2, USB Host v1.1 full speed, USB Device v2.0 high speed.

S3C2443

This product is designed for application primarily in smartphones, GPS-navigators and trackers and other devices working with graphics and multimedia. The chip allows designing compact, high-performance devices and at the same time providing a flexible choice of used processor peripherals, memory and interfaces. It is produced in the same pin compatible package as S3C2450, but using 130nm technology.

Architecture of S3C2443 processor

Features:

  • ARM920 CPU with 400/533MHz speed options with 16KB I/D cache;
  • 2-part external memory controller, up to 133 MHz;
  • LCD controller (STN&TFT);
  • Camera controller with 180° rotator;
  • DMA 6-ch, PWM, RTC, WDT, 2xPLL, power management module, 10bit 10-ch ADC (touch screen)
  • UART interfaces (3Mbps) õ4 with support of IrDA 1.0, HS-SPI(50Mbps), SPI, CF+/ATA I/F, I2C, I2S(AC97), HS-MMC/SD, SD, 2 port USB Host v1.1 full speed, USB Device v2.0 high speed.
The table below lists the differences between chips of S3C24xx family and their packages:
Microcontroller Name
 Core nm CPU frequency, MHz Features Package
S3C2450 ARM926EJ 65 400,533 2416s+Camera Interface, CF-ATA
 400FBGA
S3C2416
 ARM926EJ 65 400 2D Graphic Engine, DDR2 Support, HW 8bit ECC for MLC NAND 330FBGA
S3C2443 ARM920T 130 400,533 2440 Feature + USB2.0, CF-ATA I/F, HS MMC, SPI, MLC support 400FBGA
SC32442 ARM920T 130 300,400 S3C2442 (S3C2440s Feature) + MCP (Multi Chip Package) 332FBGA
S3C2440 ARM920T 130 300,400 2410s Feature + Camera Interface 289FBGA
S3C2413 ARM926EJ 130 266 S3C2410s feature + mSDRAM, mDDR, OneNAND + Camera Interface 289FBGA
S3C2412 ARM926EJ 130 200,266 S3C2410s feature + mSDRAM 272FBGA
S3C2410 ARM920T 180 200,266 MMU, NAND Flash Boot Loader, ROM/SRAM/SDRAM Control,
STN/TFT LCD Control, Touch Panel Control, MMC/SD Card, USB, 10bit ADC		 272FBGA

Focuses of Application for Samsung S3C24xx Family

  • GPS-navigators
  • Mobile phones
  • Smartphones
  • Communicators
  • Pocket computers (PDA)

Samsung S3C64xx Family

S3C6410

The most powerful representative of this family is S3C6410 chip – produced using 65nm and Low Power Process technologies, it allows significantly decreasing power consumption. Its main benefits are rich peripherals and high performance. S3C6410 processor has embedded Multi-Format codec – hardware encoding/decoding of MPEG4/H.263/H.264/VC1 in standard resolutions – capable of processing 640x480 resolution signal at 30 fps in full-duplex mode (simultaneous capture and replay). It has 3D hardware accelerator capable of calculating 4M of triangles per second and supporting OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 and D3DM API. It also has 2D accelerator with hardware scalability, JPEG codec and dual memory ports for parallel access, which prevents decreasing its performance during simultaneous execution of CPU code and video capture/playback. Embedded encoder/decoder includes TV out capability in NTSC and PAL formats. Above at all, it has a wide set of multimedia interfaces and memory controllers.

Architecture of S3C6410 processor

Main characteristics of S3C6410 processor:

  • ARM1176JZF-S core;
  • CPU frequency up to 667 MHz;
  • Support of SRAM/NOR, SDRAM, mDDR, NAND, OneNAND;
  • Multi Format Codec;
  • JPEG Codec;
  • Hardware support of image rotation functions;
  • 3D and 2D graphics accelerators;
  • TV(NTSC/PAL) encoder;
  • Video post-processor;
  • LCD controller;
  • Interfaces I2S(PCM, AC97) x3, I2C x2, SPI x2, UART x4, HIS, CF+/ATA, IrDA, USB OTG 2.0, USB Host 1.1, HS-MMC/SDIO, touch screen
  • ADC 8ch, RTC, PLL, PWM, WDT, DMA 32ch, power management module.

S3C6430

S3C6430 chip differs from the flagship by absence of 3D accelerator and has more advanced characteristics in energy consumption.

Their predecessor S3C6400 is designed using 90nm technology; it doesn’t have 3D accelerator, has less powerful version of 2D accelerator and it is not produced using the Low Power Process technology.

Focuses of Application for Samsung S3C64xx Family

  • Smartphones
  • GPS and GLONASS navigators
  • Echo sounders
  • Media players
  • Game consoles
  • Terminals
  • Multimedia devices