88110
Encyclopedia
The MC88110 is a microprocessor
developed by Motorola
that implemented the 88000
instruction set architecture (ISA). The MC88110 was a second-generation implementation of the 88000 ISA, succeeding the MC88100
. It was designed for use in personal computer
s and workstation
s.
in their AViiON servers, Harris in real-time UNIX systems and Motorola in their single-board computers
. NeXT
was to introduce a workstation using the MC88110, the NeXT RISC Workstation
, but they left the hardware business and cancelled the product before development had completed.
execution, out-of-order execution
and speculative execution
. Despite these new features, which corrected some architectural deficiencies in the MC88100, the MC88110 was ultimately unsuccessful and was used in few systems. The MC88110 was succeeded by PowerPC microprocessors Motorola developed jointly with International Business Machines (IBM) as part of the AIM alliance
, but remained available until the mid-1990s.
The MC88110 supported an optional external 256 KB to 2 MB secondary cache. The secondary cache controller was not integrated on the MC88110, but was located on a separate device, the MC88410, to reduce cost.
The die contained 1.3 million transistors and measured 15 mm by 15 mm (225 mm2). It was fabricated in a 1 µm complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) process. The process has three levels of aluminium interconnect and an effective channel length (the distance between the source and drain contacts of the MOSFET
transistors) of 0.8 µm. The MC88110 was designed to be shrunk to a 0.8 µm process with an effective channel length of 0.65 µm without modification.
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
developed by Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...
that implemented the 88000
88000
The 88000 is a RISC instruction set architecture developed by Motorola. The 88000 was Motorola's attempt at a home-grown RISC architecture, started in the 1980s. The 88000 arrived on the market some two years after the competing SPARC and MIPS...
instruction set architecture (ISA). The MC88110 was a second-generation implementation of the 88000 ISA, succeeding the MC88100
MC88100
The MC88100 is a microprocessor developed by Motorola that implemented 88000 instruction set architecture. Announced in 1988, the MC88100 was the first 88000 implementation. It was succeeded by the MC88110 in the early 1990s....
. It was designed for use in personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s and workstation
Workstation
A workstation is a high-end microcomputer designed for technical or scientific applications. Intended primarily to be used by one person at a time, they are commonly connected to a local area network and run multi-user operating systems...
s.
History
The first technical description of the MC88110 was given in November 1991 at the Microprocessor Forum held in San Francisco. The microprocessor was introduced in 1992, operating at 50 MHz. Users were Data GeneralData General
Data General was one of the first minicomputer firms from the late 1960s. Three of the four founders were former employees of Digital Equipment Corporation. Their first product, the Data General Nova, was a 16-bit minicomputer...
in their AViiON servers, Harris in real-time UNIX systems and Motorola in their single-board computers
Motorola Single Board Computers
Motorola Single Board Computers is Motorola's production line of computer boards for embedded systems. There were three different lines : mvme68k, mvmeppc and mvme88k. The first version of the board appeared in 1988...
. NeXT
NeXT
Next, Inc. was an American computer company headquartered in Redwood City, California, that developed and manufactured a series of computer workstations intended for the higher education and business markets...
was to introduce a workstation using the MC88110, the NeXT RISC Workstation
NeXT RISC Workstation
The NeXT RISC Workstation, or NRW, was an unreleased computer workstation designed by NeXT during the early 1990s as a successor to the m68k-based NeXTcube and NeXTstation...
, but they left the hardware business and cancelled the product before development had completed.
Description
It implemented extensions to the original ISA, such a separate floating-point register file, extended-precision (80-bit) floating-point data types and new integer and graphics instructions. It also implemented microarchitectural features previously non-existent in 88000 microprocessors, such as two-way superscalarSuperscalar
A superscalar CPU architecture implements a form of parallelism called instruction level parallelism within a single processor. It therefore allows faster CPU throughput than would otherwise be possible at a given clock rate...
execution, out-of-order execution
Out-of-order execution
In computer engineering, out-of-order execution is a paradigm used in most high-performance microprocessors to make use of instruction cycles that would otherwise be wasted by a certain type of costly delay...
and speculative execution
Speculative execution
Speculative execution in computer systems is doing work, the result of which may not be needed. This performance optimization technique is used in pipelined processors and other systems.-Main idea:...
. Despite these new features, which corrected some architectural deficiencies in the MC88100, the MC88110 was ultimately unsuccessful and was used in few systems. The MC88110 was succeeded by PowerPC microprocessors Motorola developed jointly with International Business Machines (IBM) as part of the AIM alliance
AIM alliance
The AIM alliance was an alliance formed on October 2, 1991, between Apple Inc. , IBM, and Motorola to create a new computing standard based on the PowerPC architecture. The stated goal of the alliance was to challenge the dominant Wintel computing platform with a new computer design and a...
, but remained available until the mid-1990s.
The MC88110 supported an optional external 256 KB to 2 MB secondary cache. The secondary cache controller was not integrated on the MC88110, but was located on a separate device, the MC88410, to reduce cost.
The die contained 1.3 million transistors and measured 15 mm by 15 mm (225 mm2). It was fabricated in a 1 µm complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) process. The process has three levels of aluminium interconnect and an effective channel length (the distance between the source and drain contacts of the MOSFET
MOSFET
The metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistor is a transistor used for amplifying or switching electronic signals. The basic principle of this kind of transistor was first patented by Julius Edgar Lilienfeld in 1925...
transistors) of 0.8 µm. The MC88110 was designed to be shrunk to a 0.8 µm process with an effective channel length of 0.65 µm without modification.