TI delivers leading analog integration, best-in-class low power and floating-point performance in new Stellaris ARM Cortex-M4F microcontrollers

Industry's first 65 nm Cortex-M MCUs are available today, providing a foundation to the solid Stellaris roadmap that offers even lower power and higher performance levels

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 26, 2011  -- Continuing to empower developers with leading ARM®-based embedded processing solutions, Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN) today announced the new low power, floating-point Stellaris® Cortex™-M4F microcontroller generation. All of the new LM4Fx Stellaris microcontrollers provide floating point for performance headroom and best-in-class power consumption to address portability and power budgets. Developers can also select from a variety of high-performance analog, memory and connectivity options to best satisfy design parameters across a broad range of applications, such as industrial automation, motion control, health and fitness and more. The new Stellaris MCUs are the first Cortex-M-based microcontrollers to be built on 65 nanometer (nm) technology, paving the roadmap to higher speeds, larger memory and even lower power. For more information on Stellaris Cortex-M4F microcontrollers, visit www.ti.com/cortexm4-pr-lp.

To ease design and speed time to market, TI's free license and royalty-free StellarisWare® software is available for download and is unmatched in breadth and ease-of-use. StellarisWare software includes hundreds of example projects, application and peripheral libraries and open source stacks. To conserve flash memory, TI also offers the software pre-loaded in ROM. Supported by five popular IDEs, Stellaris microcontroller kits jumpstart design in 10 minutes or less. Developers can easily scale designs and reuse code across the entire code compatible Stellaris Cortex-M microcontroller platform.

Features and benefits of the Stellaris Cortex-M4F MCU platform

• ARM Cortex-M4F floating-point core operating at up to 80 MHz to provide targeted performance headroom for application differentiation
• Two high-performance 12-bit analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and three comparators  support mixed-signal applications
• 12-bit ADC accuracy is achievable at the full 1 MSPS rating without any hardware averaging, eliminating any performance tradeoffs
• Lowest-power Stellaris microcontrollers – with standby currents now as low as 1.6 uA –  enable longer battery life and support constrained power budgets
• Connectivity options including USB (host, device and On-The-Go), UARTs, I2C, SSI/SPI and CAN to support communications
• Integrated EEPROM supports high-endurance non-volatile storage of user interface or configuration parameters to reduce system cost
• Complemented by TI's extensive portfolio of analog power management products to optimize system power efficiency
• Options for up to 256KB flash and 32KB SRAM to address varying application needs
• Code compatibility allows system designers to easily scale designs across more than 220 Stellaris Cortex-M microcontrollers

Pricing and availability

The new Stellaris Cortex-M4F microcontrollers start at $1.53 USD at 10K quantities. The EK-LM4F232 evaluation kit is priced at $149 USD, and can immediately be ordered at www.ti.com/cortexm4-pr-es with an expected lead time of up to two weeks.

Design confidently with TI's broad portfolio of ARM solutions

By offering an extensive portfolio of ARM solutions including Stellaris ARM Cortex-M microcontrollers, Hercules Cortex microcontrollers, Sitara™ Cortex-A8 and ARM9 MPUs and OMAP™ applications processors, TI enables customers to scale performance, utilize numerous peripherals and drive down system cost with enough headroom for differentiated features and future flexibility. TI is committed to providing customers with more choices for diverse markets, offering the industry's broadest range of ARM-based processors provided by a single manufacturer. This processor portfolio is coupled by complementary TI analog solutions as well as low-cost, easy-to-use software and development tools to accelerate development.

TI's broad portfolio of microcontrollers (MCUs) and software

From general purpose, ultra-low power MSP430™ MCUs, to Stellaris Cortex-M MCUs to real-time control C2000™ MCUs, and Hercules™ safety MCUs, TI offers the broadest range of microcontroller solutions. Designers can accelerate time to market by tapping into TI's complete software and hardware tools, extensive third-party offerings and technical support.

About Texas Instruments

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