BCM2837

The BCM2837 is a system-on-chip (SoC) designed by Broadcom, and it is a member of the BCM283x family used in early Raspberry Pi 3 models. Introduced in 2016, it served as the successor to the BCM2836 and provided a 64-bit capable processing core for the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B and Model B+.

The central processing unit of the BCM2837 consists of four ARM Cortex-A53 cores operating at 1.2 GHz. These cores implement the ARMv8-A instruction set, enabling 64-bit execution while allowing compatibility with older 32-bit software. The graphics and multimedia functions are handled by the integrated VideoCore IV multimedia processor, providing graphics acceleration and video processing capabilities.

Memory for systems built around the BCM2837 is external to the chip. Raspberry Pi boards based on this SoC typically shipped with about 1 GB of LPDDR2 SDRAM, connected to the SoC via a dedicated memory interface.

Manufacturing and physical characteristics include fabrication on a refined semiconductor process (28-nanometer CMOS). The BCM2837 integrates the CPU, GPU, memory controller interfaces, and various I/O blocks on a single die, sharing a common system fabric with other peripherals.

Impact and legacy: the BCM2837 marked a significant step for the Raspberry Pi platform by introducing a 64-bit capable CPU while maintaining broad software compatibility. It was later superseded in the Raspberry Pi line by the BCM2711, used in the Raspberry Pi 4, which offered a newer generation of CPU and graphics capabilities.