Renesas Technology Releases 600 MHz SuperH Family SH7785 for High-Performance Multimedia Systems

Incorporating high-performance SH-4A CPU core and advanced LCD panel controller, and achieving 50% increase in processing performance

Tokyo, January 31, 2006 −− Renesas Technology Corp. today announced the SH7785 microprocessor, offering maximum 600 MHz operation and incorporating the SuperH™^*1 Family's top-end SH-4A CPU core and a display unit comprising an LCD panel controller, for high-performance multimedia systems such as amusement machines and car navigation systems. Sample shipments will begin in May 2006 in Japan.

The SH7785 offers a 50% increase in speed and enhanced functions compared with the current SH7780 (with maximum 400 MHz operation capability) incorporating an SH-4A core.

Features of the SH7785 are as follows.

(1)	600 MHz SH-4A CPU core enabling implementation of high-performance multimedia systems
	The SH7785 incorporates an SH-4A CPU core with a maximum operating frequency of 600 MHz, providing high processing performance of 1 GIPS (giga instructions per second) or more. Large-capacity on-chip cache memory (32 Kbytes each for instructions and data) and RAM (8 Kbytes for instructions, 16 Kbytes for data, and 128 Kbytes for common use) also help to speed up software processing. A floating-point processing unit (FPU) with maximum 600 MHz operating capability is also provided. The FPU supports single-precision and double-precision operations, and achieves performance of 4.2 GFLOPS (giga floating-point operations per second) in single-precision mode. The FPU also provides hardware support of sine/cosine operations and vector arithmetic operations, helping to speed up 3D graphics drawing processing. This CPU core enables high-performance multimedia systems to be implemented.
(2)	Versatile display capability provided at low cost by multifunction display unit
	A multifunction display unit capable of controlling multiple overlapping display screens and so forth is included as an LCD panel controller. This display unit is capable of superimposed display of up to three SVGA resolution (800 x 600 pixel) screens, four WVGA resolution (800 x 480 pixel) screens, or six 480 x 234 pixel screens. The maximum number of display colors is approximately 260,000, enabling highly expressive image and video displays to be realized at low cost. The display unit also offers advanced and versatile display control capabilities such as overwriting of text information during streaming video playback.
(3)	Memory bus capable of connection to DDR2-SDRAM, enabling construction of high-speed, high-quality display systems
	The SH7785 has a 300 MHz 32-bit dedicated bus connectable to high-speed DDR2-SDRAM (Double Data Rate 2-Synchronous DRAM), providing a maximum data transfer rate of 2.4 Gbytes/second. This enables the creation of a multimedia system with high-speed, high-quality display capability using DDR2-SDRAM as a display data buffer of a display unit.

< Product Background >

Sophisticated and versatile displays combining 2D and 3D graphics are becoming widely used in the fields of amusement products and in-vehicle information terminals such as car navigation systems. In addition, sophisticated multimedia features are being offered, including video playback, image recognition, the creation of a user interface using voice recognition and voice synthesis, and so forth. As functions have become more advanced and versatile, system software has increased in complexity and scale.

The prospect of increasingly sophisticated and versatile products has led to calls for more powerful semiconductor devices, together with strong demands for the ability to reduce the number of product parts in order to cut costs still further. At the same time, from the system development standpoint, the ability to make use of previously developed software assets is becoming an increasingly important consideration.

Renesas Technology has gained a large share of the market in such fields as car navigation systems through products incorporating an SH-4 or SH-4A. Now, to meet the above needs, Renesas Technology has developed a still faster version of the SH-4A core, and is releasing the SH7785 high-performance microprocessor incorporating a variety of peripheral functions including a display unit and PCI^*2 bus controller.

Product Details

The SH7785 incorporates an SH-4A CPU core and operates at a maximum frequency of 600 MHz. It achieves a 50% increase in speed compared with Renesas Technology's current SH7780 incorporating an SH-4A CPU core, and provides high processing performance of 1 GIPS-plus CPU processing performance and maximum 4.2 GFLOPS FPU processing performance.

On-chip cache memory comprises 32-Kbyte 4-way set associative instruction cache and 32-Kbyte 4-way set associative data cache, helping to speed up software processing. Also provided on-chip are 8 Kbytes of RAM that can be accessed at high speed in instruction fetches, and 16 Kbytes of RAM that can be accessed at high speed in data accesses. Storing exception handling programs or the like in these RAM areas enables the real-time responsiveness of a system to be improved.

Hardware support of sine/cosine operations speeds up operations necessary for 3D graphics drawing processing. Use in combination with an external device provided with 3D display functions thus enables more sophisticated 3D graphics displays to be constructed.

A display unit capable of displaying a maximum of approximately 260,000 colors is also included as an LCD panel controller, enabling SVGA or WVGA resolution display processing to be performed by an SH7785 alone. The display unit also has a function for superimposed display of multiple screens, with superimposition control possible for up to six screens at a resolution of 480 x 234 pixels. Features such as transparency processing are also supported for each display screen.  Use of this display unit enables the number of external parts to be reduced and makes it possible to implement versatile displays at low cost.

The SH7785 also includes a 300 MHz 32-bit dedicated bus capable of connection to high-speed DDR2-SDRAM, providing a maximum data transfer rate of 2.4 Gbytes/second that offers high-speed, high-quality display capability.

A variety of other on-chip peripheral functions are also provided.

A hardware data translation accelerator useful for moving image playback provides high-speed execution of motion compensation, color data format conversion, and so forth, and, used in combination with the display unit, enables moving image playback and display to be performed by the SH7785 alone.

The SH7785 includes the PCI bus controller used as standard in PCs. This enables sophisticated display functions to be implemented without using the display unit through external connection of a high-performance display control device compliant with PCI bus connection specifications, for example, and also makes it possible to use existing inexpensive standard devices such as PC peripherals. This capability provides for flexible system expansion and enables lower system costs to be achieved.

Numerous other on-chip peripheral modules are provided, including a direct memory access controller, interrupt controller, watchdog timer, an interface for connection to a audio CODEC IC, and various serial interfaces.

The package used is a 436-pin BGA (19 mm x 19 mm), approximately 20% smaller than the current SH7780 package, enabling compact systems to be created. An environment-friendly lead-free package version is also available.

The SH7785 includes an on-chip debugging function that enables real-time debugging to be carried out at the maximum operating frequency, and an E10A-USB on-chip debugging emulator is available as a development environment. An E200F full-spec emulator with enhanced debugging functions is also planned, compatible with the SSTL18 trace interface comprising the new AUD high-speed trace system. This enables 300 MHz double-rate acquisition of trace information, supporting a high-speed acquisition of trace information at the SH7785's maximum operating frequency of 600 MHz.

Renesas Technology will continue to develop models offering higher performance and functionality, including CPU dual-core implementation and support for various high-speed interfaces, in order to provide products that offer a timely response to evolving market needs.

Notes:	1.	SuperH is a trademark of Renesas Technology Corp.
	2.	PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) : A bus standard standardized by the PCI Special Interest Group

* Other product names, company names, or brands mentioned are the property of their respective owners.


<Typical Applications>

Amusement machines, digital home appliances, industrial equipment, etc. In-vehicle information terminals: Car navigation systems, etc.

< Prices in Japan > * For Reference

Product Name	Type Name	Package	Sample Price (Yen) [ Tax Included ]
SH7785	R8A77850ANBG	436-pin BGA (19 mm × 19 mm)	7,000
	R8A77850ANBGV	436-pin BGA (19 mm × 19 mm), lead-free specification

< Specifications >

Item	SH7785 Specifications
Product type name	R8A77850ANBG	R8A77850ANBGV
Power supply voltage	1.1 V (internal) / 3.3 V (external), 1.8 V (DDR2-SDRAM interface)
Maximum operating frequency	600 MHz
Processing performance	1.08 GIPS, 4.2 GFLOPS (at 600 MHz operation)
CPU core	SH-4A core
On-chip RAM	High-speed RAM : 8 Kbytes + 16 Kbytes ; medium speed RAM : 128 Kbytes
Cache memory	4-way set associative type, with separate 32 Kbytes for instructions and 32 Kbytes for data
External memory/external bus interfaces	DDR2-SDRAM memory controller 16-bit or 32-bit bus width connection of DDR2-SDRAM Maximum operating frequenc : 300 MHz Local bus state controller: SRAM, burst ROM, etc. connectable 8/16/32/64-bit bus width selectable (Note: 64-bit bus width possible only when not using PCI bus controller/display unit) MPX bus and PCMCIA interface supported Maximum operating frequency: 100 MHz PCI bus controller: 32-bit bus width connection of external PCI device 33 MHz/66 MHz operation possible External memory areas: 64 Mbytes x 7 (max.)
Main on-chip peripheral functions	Display unit
	Data translation accelerator
	Direct memory access controller x 12 channels
	Serial communication interface with FIFO x 6 channels (max.)
	Timer x 6 channels
	Various sound interfaces
	Interrupt controller
	Clock pulse generator: Built-in multiplication PLL
	On-chip debugging function
Power-down modes	DDR backup function, module standby function
Package	436-pin BGA (19 mm x 19 mm)	436-pin BGA (19 mm x 19 mm), lead-free specification