Philips launches ARM-based microcontroller line
Philips launches ARM-based microcontroller line
By Peter Clarke, Semiconductor Business News
October 16, 2002 (9:36 a.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20021015S0030
SANTA CLARA, California -- Dutch chipmaker Philips Semiconductors, a leader in 8051-based 8-bit microcontrollers, is developing a range of 32-bit/16-bit microcontrollers based on the ARM7TDMI "Thumb" core from ARM Holdings plc that should be available before the end of 2002. The company plans to sample the first examples from a forthcoming family of microcontrollers in the fourth quarter and go into volume production in the first quarter of 2003, according to Geoff Lees, the director of marketing for the microcontroller business line at Philips. Lees reckons the company will gain a big commercial advantage, in performance and price, from making the devices using Philips' 0.18-micron embedded flash process technology announced in March of this year. The company is introducing a couple of parts initially, one aimed at automotive applications, the other at dial-up networking and TCP/IP processing. Lees said that both would be under $10 per unit and that he expected prices to go quickly to about $5 in volumes of about 50,000 units. "Philips has been an ARM licensee for some time but in the ASIC and SoC areas. This will be the first time we've provided an ARM-based microcontroller. The increasing NRE [non-recurring engineering] cost of ASIC and custom design is favoring standard products more and more, and a lot of our customers want to use microcontroller-based designs for initial product launches with a view to migrating to an ASIC solution for price reduction later," said Lees. Philips has provided chips for its so-called "Optimized UMTS Philips Solution" for 3G mobile communications based on ARM7 and ARM9 cores. However, Philips is not the first into the ARM microcontroller market having been beaten by Atmel Corp. of San Jose, California, by several years. "Ours is the first truly integrated solution. Earlier solutions have not had integrated flash. Our 0.18-micron flash process allows up to 256-kbyte of flash and up to 64-kbyte of SRAM on the chip," said Lees. "Also we've developed a 128-bit wide flash block which allows the ARM device to read four 32-bit words in a single cycle. Other offerings with embedded flash require multiple wait-states. The early devices will come in a basic form with relatively few peripherals, with 128-kbytes of flash memory, 32-kbytes or 64-kbytes of RAM, serial channels and programmable timers. A more advanced device will include a selection of analog peripherals and a CAN interface, aimed at automotive applications. "After that I would think a device with 802.11 capability would be pretty high on the agenda," said Lees. Lees said that the embedded flash memory is guaranteed for 100,000 read-write cycles over the industrial temperature range but that automotive qualification was expected during 2003. Such a number is relatively low and requires some thought to be applied to how the flash memory is used but Lees said that the endurance would improve with testing and that, in any case, Phili ps could add EEPROM to its process with zero impact. The ARM processor core is expected to clock at more than 50-MHz. Although this is relatively low for an ARM7 in a 0.18-micron process Lees pointed out that the range had been optimised for low power consumption with the ARM core operating at 1.8-V and only the I/O being enabled to operate at 3.3-V. In addition the wait-states that other microcontrollers forced on their ARM cores made them operate less efficiently or more slowly. Philips, expected to start bringing our microcontrollers based on the higher performance ARM9 core within 12 to 18 months.
Related News
- Oki Semiconductor Launches ARM-Based Microcontroller that Reduces Encryption/Decryption Time for IC Card Terminals
- ARM Announces RealView Developer Kit For Philips New ARM-Based Microcontroller Solution
- STMicroelectronics Extends ARM-based STR710F Microcontroller Family
- Oki Semiconductor Highlights ARM-Based Microcontroller Momentum Through Series of 10 ARM Products in 2003
- Toshiba Launches First SoCMosaic Custom Chip, An Arm-Based Controller For Low-End Networking And Consumer Convergence Applications
Breaking News
- TSMC drives A16, 3D process technology
- Frontgrade Gaisler Unveils GR716B, a New Standard in Space-Grade Microcontrollers
- Blueshift Memory launches BlueFive processor, accelerating computation by up to 50 times and saving up to 65% energy
- Eliyan Ports Industry's Highest Performing PHY to Samsung Foundry SF4X Process Node, Achieving up to 40 Gbps Bandwidth at Unprecedented Power Levels with UCIe-Compliant Chiplet Interconnect Technology
- CXL Fabless Startup Panmnesia Secures Over $60M in Series A Funding, Aiming to Lead the CXL Switch Silicon Chip and CXL IP
Most Popular
- Cadence Unveils Arm-Based System Chiplet
- CXL Fabless Startup Panmnesia Secures Over $60M in Series A Funding, Aiming to Lead the CXL Switch Silicon Chip and CXL IP
- Esperanto Technologies and NEC Cooperate on Initiative to Advance Next Generation RISC-V Chips and Software Solutions for HPC
- Eliyan Ports Industry's Highest Performing PHY to Samsung Foundry SF4X Process Node, Achieving up to 40 Gbps Bandwidth at Unprecedented Power Levels with UCIe-Compliant Chiplet Interconnect Technology
- Arteris Selected by GigaDevice for Development in Next-Generation Automotive SoC With Enhanced FuSa Standards
E-mail This Article | Printer-Friendly Page |