Toshiba Cortex-M3 chip CAN, USB and Ethernet

Toshiba Cortex-M3 chip CAN, USB and Ethernet

Toshiba Electronics Europe has introduced a series of ARM Cortex-M3 microcontrollers, its first to incorporate Ethernet, CAN and USB host and device interfaces.

With Cortex-M3 cores running at 80MHz, the four microcontrollers in the TMPM369Fxxx series integrate single-channel CAN2.0B, a full-speed USB Host controller, a full-speed USB device controller and a 10/100BASE single-channel Ethernet MAC.

There are two independent analogue-to-digital converters (ADCs) with conversion times of 1µs or 0.5 µs in interleaved mode.

According to the supplier, this will meet the requirements of barcode readers.

The chip’s multi-purpose timer (MPT) combines three-phase PWM control with an ADC trigger making the new devices ideal for motor control applications.

On-chip memory are ROM options of either 512kbyte or 256kbyte using the firm’s Nano Flash technology, which runs at 80MHz without wait states and allows for very high-speed programming.

Integrated RAM of up to 128kbyte provides capacity for key IP, and a 32-channel DMA controller increases the overall system performance.

All of the new microcontrollers feature two10-bit digital-to-analogue converter (DAC) channels and a 2-channel encoder signal input for motor control.

Also on-board are a Real Time Clock and an Oscillation Frequency Detector (OFD). The latter provides hardware monitoring of the CPU clock in accordance with the IEC60730 (Class B) safety standard for home appliances.

Featuring on-chip regulators, TMPM369Fxxx microcontrollers are designed for operation from a single 2.7V to 3.6V power supply - or 3.0V to 3.6V when USB is in operation. Clock gearing functionality and ‘IDLE’, ‘STOP1’ and ‘STOP2’ standby modes help to keep power consumption to a minimum.

Toshiba’s TMPM369Fxxx microcontrollers are available in LQFP-144 and FBGA-176 package options....RESOURCES

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PredictionsElectronics Industry - Qualcomm - SEMICON Europa

PredictionsElectronics Industry - Qualcomm - SEMICON Europa

“Star Trek has been the predictor to the electronics of the future”, Mike Campbell, senior vp at Qualcomm CDMA Technologies told the SEMICON Europa 2011 Fab Managers Forum in Dresden this morning.

Campbell listed the technologies which the Star Trek cast was using back in the 60s: voice-activated computers, touch-screen controls, motion control, 3D displays, remote sensing, non-invasive diagnostics, real-time DNA analysis.

Flip phones, now the largest industry driver, tablet PCs and diagnostic beds were among nine products first seen on Star Trek.

Campbell had a prediction of his own: “Your first 3D camera will be a phone.” Apparently these are coming for Christmas.

“Semiconductor growth will be driven by ease of access to data,” said Campbell, but he thought that the semiconductor industry is “approaching a discontinuity” with fewer players able to compete in process technology.

In terms of capital spending, the top five players spend 40% of the total; the top ten spend 55% of the total; the top 15 spend 67% of the total, and the top 25 spend 82% of the total.

This is only getting worse with the soaring costs of EUV, double patterning and 450mm, and the increasing concentration of the volume growth driver applications in areas like mobile and automotive.

Mobile growth is enormous. 25% of the world’s population is on the Internet, said Campbell, 5bn mobile phones are in use, 1.5bn phones will be sold this year, 1.67bn next year,1.64bn in 2013 and 1.79bn in 2014. Smartphones are growing much quicker – Campbell expects 40% CAGR in smartphones between 2011 and 2014.

3G is “the biggest platform in the history of mankind” said Campbell, with 1bn 3G subscribers now, and 2.7bn 3G subscribers in 2014....RESOURCES

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ARM next generation with 64-bit processor expected in 2014

ARM next generation with 64-bit processor expected in 2014

ARM has given first technical details of its next generation ARMv8 architecture, the first ARM architecture to include a 64-bit instruction set.

ARMv8 architecture's 64-bit processing and virtual addressing differentiates it from the 32-bit ARMv7 architecture which the Cortex-A9 and Cortex-A15 processors are built on.

"We believe the ARMv8 architecture is ideally suited to enable the ARM partnership to continue to grow in 32-bit application spaces and bring diverse, innovative and energy-efficient solutions to 64-bit processing markets,” said Mike Muller, chief technology officer at ARM

The ARMv8 architecture consists of two main execution states, AArch64 and AArch32.

The AArch64 execution state introduces a new instruction set, A64 for 64-bit processing. The AArch32 state supports the existing ARM instruction set.

It retains the TrustZone, virtualization and NEON advanced SIMD from the current ARMv7 architecture.

Design support for the 64-bit instruction set comes in the form of compiler and Fast Models which are already available to specific ecosystem partners.

Initial support for a range of open source operating systems, applications and third-party tools is already in development. Working together the ARM partnership is collaborating to accelerate development of a 64-bit ecosystem, in many cases as a natural extension to the broad ecosystem in place to support ARMv7 based devices in the market today.

"The evolution of ARM to support a 64-bit architecture is a significant development for ARM and for the ARM ecosystem," said KD Hallman, general manager at Microsoft.

According to ARM, the ARMv8 architecture will enable the development of ARM architecture compatible devices that can be designed to maximize the benefits across both 32-bit and 64-bit application areas.

The 64-bit architecture will be of interest for high-end servers and computer designs.

The ARMv8 architecture specifications describing all aspects of the ARMv8 architecture are available now to partners under license. ARM will disclose processors based on ARMv8 during 2012, with consumer and enterprise prototype systems expected in 2014....RESOURCES

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