458 TinyQV Risc-V SoC :: Quicker, easier and cheaper to make your own chip!

How it works

TinyQV is a small Risc-V SoC, implementing the RV32EC instruction set plus the Zcb and Zicond extensions, with a couple of caveats:

Addresses are 28-bits
Program addresses are 24-bits
gp is hardcoded to 0x1000400, tp is hardcoded to 0x8000000.

Instructions are read using QSPI from Flash, and a QSPI PSRAM is used for memory. The QSPI clock and data lines are shared between the flash and the RAM, so only one can be accessed simultaneously.

Code can only be executed from flash. Data can be read from flash and RAM, and written to RAM.

The SoC includes a UART and an SPI controller.

Address map

Address range	Device
0x0000000 - 0x0FFFFFF	Flash
0x1000000 - 0x17FFFFF	RAM A
0x1800000 - 0x1FFFFFF	RAM B
0x8000000 - 0x8000007	GPIO
0x8000010 - 0x800001F	UART
0x8000020 - 0x8000027	SPI
0x8000028 - 0x800002B	PWM

GPIO

Register	Address	Description
OUT	0x8000000 (W)	Control out0-7, if the corresponding bit in SEL is high
OUT	0x8000000 (R)	Reads the current state of out0-7
IN	0x8000004 (R)	Reads the current state of in0-7
SEL	0x800000C (R/W)	Bits 0-7 enable general purpose output on the corresponding bit on out0-7. Bit 8 enables PWM output on out7, bit 9 enables PWM output on io7.

UART

Register	Address	Description
DATA	0x8000010 (W)	Transmits the byte
DATA	0x8000010 (R)	Reads any received byte
STATUS	0x8000014 (R)	Bit 0 indicates whether the UART TX is busy, bytes should not be written to the data register while this bit is set. Bit 1 indicates whether a received byte is available to be read.

Debug UART (Transmit only)

Register	Address	Description
DATA	0x8000018 (W)	Transmits the byte
STATUS	0x800001C (R)	Bit 0 indicates whether the UART TX is busy, bytes should not be written to the data register while this bit is set.

SPI

Register	Address	Description
DATA	0x8000020 (W)	Transmits the byte in bits 7-0, bit 8 is set if this is the last byte of the transaction, bit 9 controls Data/Command on out3
DATA	0x8000020 (R)	Reads the last received byte
CONFIG	0x8000024 (W)	The low 2 bits set the clock divisor for the SPI clock to 2*(value + 1), bit 2 adds half a cycle to the read latency when set
STATUS	0x8000024 (R)	Bit 0 indicates whether the SPI is busy, bytes should not be written or read from the data register while this bit is set.

How to test

Load an image into flash and then select the design.

Reset the design as follows:

Set rst_n high and then low to ensure the design sees a falling edge of rst_n. The bidirectional IOs are all set to inputs while rst_n is low.
Program the flash and leave flash in continuous read mode, and the PSRAMs in QPI mode
Drive all the QSPI CS high and set SD2:SD0 to the read latency of the QSPI flash and PSRAM in cycles.
Clock at least 8 times and stop with clock high
Release all the QSPI lines
Set rst_n high
Set clock low
Start clocking normally

Based on the observed latencies from tt3p5 testing, at the target 64MHz clock a read latency of 2 or 3 is likely required. The maximum supported latency is currently 3, but should get up to 5 to have a chance at running at faster clock speeds.

The above should all be handled by some MicroPython scripts for the RP2040 on the TT demo PC.

Build programs using the riscv32-unknown-elf toolchain and the tinyQV-sdk, some examples are here.

External hardware

The design is intended to be used with this QSPI PMOD on the bidirectional PMOD. This has a 16MB flash and 2 8MB RAMs.

The UART is on the correct pins to be used with the hardware UART on the RP2040 on the demo board.

The SPI controller is intended to make it easy to drive an ST7789 LCD display (more details to be added).

It may be useful to have buttons to use on the GPIO inputs.

#	Input	Output	Bidirectional
0	Interrupt 0	UART TX	Flash CS
1	Interrupt 1	UART RTS	SD0
2	SPI MISO	SPI DC	SD1
3	GP in3	SPI MOSI	SCK
4	GP in4	SPI CS	SD2
5	GP in5	SPI SCK	SD3
6	GP in6	Debug UART TX	RAM A CS
7	UART RX	Debug signal / PWM	RAM B CS / PWM

458 TinyQV Risc-V SoC