M32R/D-integrating DRAM and microprocessor

Newly emerging portable multimedia systems demand low-energy processing. Until now, however, designers of microprocessors for PCs and engineering workstations have focused mostly on high speed. Microcontroller designers, on the other hand, have taken low power dissipation as a first priority. Today´s portable multimedia system design calls for developers to combine these two approaches, lowering power consumption while maintaining reasonable performance. There are several approaches to reducing power dissipation. Using advanced process technology is one of them. Another approach merges a DRAM with a high-performance RISC processor on a single silicon chip-what we call embedded DRAM, or eRAM. This is exactly the concept that this new processor, M32R/D, embodies