Introduction:

The i.MX 6Dual/6Quad processors represent the latestachievement in integrated multimedia applicationsprocessors. These processors are part of a growingfamily of multimedia-focused products that offer highperformance processing and are optimized for lowestpower consumption. The i.MX 6Dual/6Quad processors feature advancedimplementation of the quad Arm® Cortex®-A9 core,which operates at speeds up to 1.2 GHz. They include 2Dand 3D graphics processors, 1080p video processing,and integrated power management. Each processorprovides a 64-bit DDR3/DDR3L/LPDDR2 memoryinterface and a number of other interfaces for connectingperipherals, such as WLAN, Bluetooth®, GPS, harddrive, displays, and camera sensors.

The i.MX 6Dual/6Quad processors are specificallyuseful for applications such as the following:

• Netbooks (web tablets)

• Nettops (Internet desktop devices)

• High-end mobile Internet devices (MID)

• High-end PDAs

• High-end portable media players (PMP) with HD video capability

• Gaming consoles

• Portable navigation devices (PND)

The i.MX 6Dual/6Quad processors offers numerous advanced features, such as:

• Applications processors—The processors enhance the capabilities of high-tier portableapplications by fulfilling the ever increasing MIPS needs of operating systems and games. TheDynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) provides significant power reduction, allowingthe device to run at lower voltage and frequency with sufficient MIPS for tasks such as audiodecode.

• Multilevel memory system—The multilevel memory system of each processor is based on the L1instruction and data caches, L2 cache, and internal and external memory. The processors supportmany types of external memory devices, including DDR3, DDR3L, LPDDR2, NOR Flash,PSRAM, cellular RAM, NAND Flash (MLC and SLC), OneNAND™, and managed NAND,including eMMC up to rev 4.4/4.41.

• Smart speed technology—The processors have power management throughout the device thatenables the rich suite of multimedia features and peripherals to consume minimum power in bothactive and various low power modes. Smart speed technology enables the designer to deliver afeature-rich product, requiring levels of power far lower than industry expectations.

• Dynamic voltage and frequency scaling—The processors improve the power efficiency of devicesby scaling the voltage and frequency to optimize performance.

• Multimedia powerhouse—The multimedia performance of each processor is enhanced by amultilevel cache system, Neon® MPE (Media Processor Engine) co-processor, a multi-standardhardware video codec, 2 autonomous and independent image processing units (IPU), and aprogrammable smart DMA (SDMA) controller.

• Powerful graphics acceleration—Each processor provides three independent, integrated graphicsprocessing units: an OpenGL® ES 2.0 3D graphics accelerator with four shaders (up to 200 MTri/sand OpenCL support), 2D graphics accelerator, and dedicated OpenVG™ 1.1 accelerator.

• Interface flexibility—Each processor supports connections to a variety of interfaces: LCDcontroller for up to four displays (including parallel display, HDMI1.4, MIPI display, and LVDSdisplay), dual CMOS sensor interface (parallel or through MIPI), high-speed USB on-the-go withPHY, high-speed USB host with PHY, multiple expansion card ports (high-speed MMC/SDIO hostand other), 10/100/1000 Mbps Gigabit Ethernet controller, and a variety of other popular interfaces(such as UART, I2C, and I2S serial audio, SATA-II, and PCIe-II).

• Advanced security—The processors deliver hardware-enabled security features that enable securee-commerce, digital rights management (DRM), information encryption, secure boot, and securesoftware downloads. The security features are discussed in detail in the i.MX 6Dual/6Quadsecurity reference manual (IMX6DQ6SDLSRM).

• Integrated power management—The processors integrate linear regulators and internally generatevoltage levels for different domains. This significantly simplifies system power managementstructure.