Intel Quark

Intel Galileo-Board with Quark-Processor

Intel Quark is a line of 32-bit x86 SoCs and μCs by Intel, designed for small size and low power consumption, and targeted at new markets including wearable devices. The line was introduced at Intel Developer Forum in 2013. Quark processors, while slower than Atom processors, are much smaller and consume less power. They lack support for SIMD instruction sets (such as MMX and SSE)^[1] and only support embedded operating systems. Quark powers the Intel Galileo developer microcontroller board.^[2] The CPU instruction set is the same as a Pentium (P54C/i586) CPU.^[3]

The first product in the Quark line is the single-core 32 nm X1000 SoC with a clock rate of up to 400 MHz. The system includes several interfaces, including PCI Express, serial UART, I²C, Fast Ethernet, USB 2.0, SDIO, power management controller, and GPIO. There are 16 KB of on-chip embedded SRAM and an integrated DDR3 memory controller.^[4][5]

A second Intel product that includes Quark core, the Intel Edison microcomputer, was presented in January 2014. It has a form factor close to the size of an SD card, and is capable of wireless networking using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.^[6]

In January 2015, Intel announced the sub-miniature Intel Curie module for wearable applications, based on a Quark SE core with 80 KB SRAM and 384 KB flash.^[7] At the size of a button, it also features a 6-axis accelerometer, a DSP sensor hub, a Bluetooth LE unit and a battery charge controller.

In October 2015, Intel's Senior Vice President Josh Walden and Arduino LLC's Massimo Banzi announced the successor to the "Arduino Uno" would be the "Arduino 101" and that it would be based on Intel's Curie module which itself was centered on a Quark processor.

List of Intel Quark processors

"Lakemont" (32 nm)

The name Lakemont has been used in reference to the processor core in multiple Quark-series processors.^[8]:4[9]:42

"Clanton"

(The L2 cache column shows the size of the L1 cache)

Model number	sSpec number	Cores	Frequency	GPU frequency	L2 cache	I/O bus	Memory	Voltage	TDP	Socket	Release date	Part number(s)	Release price (USD)
Quark X1000	SR1BY (A0)		400 MHz	N/A	16 KB		DDR3-800		2.2 W	FC-BGA11E	Q4'13	DH8066101538300	$9.63
Quark X1001	SR1VB (A0)		400 MHz	N/A	16 KB		DDR3-800		2.2 W	FC-BGA11E	Q2'14	DHQ1ET	$11.77
Quark X1010	SR1BZ (A0)		400 MHz	N/A	16 KB		DDR3-800		2.2 W	FC-BGA11E	Q1'14	DH8066101555100	$10.16
Quark X1011	SR1VC (A0)		400 MHz	N/A	16 KB		DDR3-800		2.2 W	FC-BGA11E	Q2'14	DHQ1ECCET	$12.31
Quark X1020	SR1VW (A0)		400 MHz	N/A	16 KB		DDR3-800		2.2 W	FC-BGA11E	Q2'14	DHQ1ECCSECCTS1	$11.45
Quark X1020D	SR1BX (A0)		400 MHz	N/A	16 KB		DDR3-800		2.2 W	FC-BGA11E	Q1'14	DH8066101531900	$10.70
Quark X1021	SR1WH (A0)		400 MHz	N/A	16 KB		DDR3-800		2.2 W	FC-BGA11E	Q2'14	DHQ1ECCSECETS1	$13.39
Quark X1021D	SR1VA (A0)		400 MHz	N/A	16 KB		DDR3-800		2.2 W	FC-BGA11E	Q2'14	DHQ1ECCSECET	$12.85

"Silver Butte"

Model number	sSpec number	Cores	Frequency	GPU frequency	L2 cache	I/O bus	Memory	Voltage	TDP	Socket	Release date	Part number(s)	Release price (USD)
Quark D1000	SLKMJ (B1)		32 MHz	N/A	0 KB	AHB-Lite, APB[10]^:30	eSRAM	1.62–3.63 V	0.025 W	QFN40	Q3'15	DMNIAD01SLVBT

"Mint Valley"

Model number	sSpec number	Cores	Frequency	GPU frequency	L2 cache	I/O bus	Memory	Voltage	TDP	Socket	Release date	Part number(s)	Release price (USD)
Quark D2000	SR2KF (A0)		32 MHz	N/A	0 KB	AHB-Lite,[9]^:72APB[9]^:96	eSRAM	1.62–3.63 V	0.025 W	QFN40	Q3'15	FND2000

"Atlas Peak"

Model number	sSpec number	Cores	Frequency	GPU frequency	L2 cache	I/O bus	Memory	Voltage	TDP	Socket	Release date	Part number(s)	Release price (USD)
Quark SE C1000	SR2T6 (A0) SR2TJ (A1)		32 MHz	N/A	0 KB	AHB-Lite,APB	eSRAM	1.8–3.3 V	0.025 W	VFBGA144	Q4'15	LMCQ1000	$10.32

Segfault bug

Intel Quark SoC X1000 contains a bug #71538^[11] that "under specific circumstances" results in crash, known in the industry as a segfault. The workaround implemented by Intel is to omit LOCK instructions in the compiled code.^[12] While Yocto Linux based embedded systems incorporate this workaround, general purpose Linux distributions such as Debian are deeply affected by the bug. Such a workaround is not easy to implement on multithreading systems as they require LOCK instruction to function properly.^[13]

References

1. Turley, Jim (October 16, 2013). "Intel Quark Provides Spin, Charm, and Strange New Low-end x86 MCU Line Emerging from the Lab". EEJournal. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
2. Intel® Galileo Datasheet
3. "Intel Quark SoC X1000 Core - Developer's Manual".
4. Flaherty, Nick (2013-10-07). "Intel Tackles SoC With Quark". EETimes. Retrieved 9 October 2013.
5. Intel® Quark™ SoC X1000 (16K Cache, 400 MHz) Specifications, Intel
6. Gareth Halfacree (7 January 2014). "Intel unveils Quark-based Edison microcomputer". BitTech. Retrieved 2014-01-07.
7. "Intel® Curie™ Module: Unleashing Wearable Device Innovation". Intel. 2015-01-06. Retrieved 12 April 2015.
8. Intel Quark SoC X1000 Debug Operations. Intel Corporation. 2014.
9. Intel Quark microcontroller D2000. Intel Corporation. 2015.
10. Intel Quark Microcontroller D1000 Datasheet. Intel Corporation. 2015.
11. "Intel Quark SoC X1000 Software - Release Notes". Revision 002. 22 May 2014. p. 21.
12. "[email protected]: Bug#738575: pthread: segfault in libpthread on Intel Galileo board".
13. https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=738575

External links

• Intel Quark SoC Documents
• Quark family // Intel ARK (Product Specs)
• Intel's 'Quark' lineup targets wearables. Intel is making the tiniest of chips that can power wearable devices. // CNET, September 10, 2013
• Intel Unveils Tiny Quark Chips for Wearable Devices. Processor Is One-Fifth the Size of Its Low-End Atom Chip // The WSJ, September 10, 2013
• Intel introduces Quark, a tiny chip for the internet of things and wearable computing // The Verge, 2013-09-10
• With Quark, Intel blesses the market of chips for wearable devices // Ventureboat, 2013-09-12