The A9 is basically a story of Apple's sixth-generation A-series application processor built on the FinFET process, but it further reveals Apple's ambitions in semiconductor design—Apple's first-generation A4 processor. It was introduced in 2010, when it was thought to have much in common with a Samsung processor; the next A6 let us see the customized Apple's own design CPU, which is still considered a great achievement until now. .
The A6's next-generation A7 is moving to 64-bit computing; the A7 shows some interesting design decisions because there is no A7X in the same series. Apple designed a single processor for the iPad Air and iPhone 5s with the A7, although the two devices support four times the difference; in addition, the iPhone 5s is equipped with the TouchID function, and the iPad Air is not.
From a process perspective, we have used the 45nm A4 from the beginning to advance to the A9 with 14nm and 16nm dual supply sources.
Apple's A4 processor (left) and A9 processor chip close-up
(Source: MuAnalysis and Chipworks)
Apple's top executives seem particularly excited about the birth of the A9. At the press conference on September 9th this year, there were a lot of technical details, including the 7000 series of aluminum alloys, and the application of display glass and camera image sensors. An ion exchange process with deep trench isolation between internal pixels. Moreover, the author thinks that more attention is placed on the A9 than the previous generations of processors, not GHz and core numbers, but performance and integration.
At the product presentation, Apple's senior vice president of marketing, Phil Schiller, compared the performance of the A9X and A8 and other A-series processors, and for the first time mentioned the "class of desktop" and "level of gaming consoles". Described. Then I introduced more details of the A9, including its 64-bit CPU, a new transistor architecture, and "optimization for real-world applications."
Apple's A9 processor is 64-bit
(Source: Apple)
64-bit is not surprising, and its "new transistor architecture" should refer to FinFET, and it has been proven to use both TSMC and Samsung's processes; the following is the FinFET cross-section of A9 produced by TSMC.
Cross-section of FinFET of A9 produced by TSMC
(Source: Techinsights)
At the press conference held on September 9th, we also saw the A9 wafer image from the briefing (as shown below); some of the main functional blocks were marked, although the circuit was fuzzy and the edge of the wafer I can't see it, but it is Apple's first impression that Apple is showing the chip.
Apple showed the A9's wafer image in the newsletter
(Source: Techinsights)
Interestingly, the above image is not just a finished image of a metal wire, but a bare crystal image that goes deep into the transistor or substrate level; this shows that they want to show the A9's infrastructure, which can be seen from the dual core CPU. , 6 core GPUs, two large-area memory blocks, and the M9 Motion Coordinator (MCP), and MCP is also a special emphasis.
From Apple's introduction, you can see a lot of interesting features about A9. First, it maintains the dual-core CPU model—this is the architecture of four generations of Apple processors; it may also support the use of circuits for specific tasks or programs. The assumption that this particular hardware line or "function block" can alleviate the burden on the CPU.
In addition, it can be seen that the A9's GPU seems to occupy a large wafer area; now it seems that the blurred picture chip that appeared at the press conference is the A9 made by Samsung. Below you can see the clear image of the Samsung A9, which has an area of ​​8.7mm x 10.7 mm, which is 94 mm2. The CPU, GPU, SRAM and M9 have been marked.
A9 processor microscopic image
(Source: Chipworks)
From the overall wafer area above and the approximate functional block designation, we can calculate the area of ​​each part; the table below is a comparison of the A series processors. The A9's CPU occupies approximately 14 mm2 or 14% of the overall die area; the six-core GPU occupies approximately 27 mm2, or 29% of the chip's overall area, approximately twice the CPU area. The two large-area memory (SRAM) blocks total about 4.3 mm2, occupying 5% of the overall wafer area.
Comparing the CPU to GPU ratio with the previous generations of A series processors, it will be found that the A9 CPU block ratio is lower, and the GPU ratio is higher; in fact, as can be seen from the table below, The A9 is the only non-"X" processor with such a high percentage of GPU area, which shows that the chip is really intriguing.
Each functional block of the A series processor occupies the chip area
High integration is another noteworthy aspect of A9, M9 MCP is the first case to show the processor integration; M9 is Apple's third-generation MCP, the first generation is M7, first appeared on iPhone 5s The M7 was identified as coming from NXP, which analysts believe is a custom component for Apple. The next M8 is also a component of NXP.
As for the M9, which is a non-independent chip, it is presumed that it is an IP licensing agreement between NXP and Apple, which allows the latter to integrate the NXP IP into the A9 processor. Finally, the integrated MCP seems to borrow the A9. CPU cycle. Another A9 may integrate a flash memory controller, but this has not yet been confirmed.
Compilation: Judith Cheng (Reference: Apple's A9: Story Within A Story, by Paul Boldt) eettaiwan
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