Sharp Microelectronics Introduces Family of ARM-based 16/32-Bit Microcontrollers
Four New Highly Integrated Microcontrollers Drive Color or Grayscale LCD Displays and support CAN 2.0B Connectivity
SAN FRANCISCO & CAMAS, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 13, 2002--
Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas (SMA) today adds to its
BlueStreak family of microcontrollers (MCUs) a highly integrated line
of16/32-bit MCUs.
These new 16/32-bit MCUs with LCD controllers are ideal for
applications in industrial control, white goods, smart appliances,
marine applications, organizers and low end PDAs. With this line,
Sharp offers design engineers four unique microcontrollers with the
performance of a 32-bit ARM7TDMI core, yet requiring only 16-bit
external addressing. The 16-bit external addressing makes these
microcontrollers ideal for use in 16-bit applications that require
higher performance at the price of a standard 16-bit microcontroller.
"Our 16/32-bit microcontrollers offer increased performance and
functionality over standard 16-bit MCUs without requiring the customer
to re-design the board to support 32-bit addressing and memory
devices," said Terry Thomas, SMA's director of marketing for
microcontroller and System-on-Chip. "When the engineer needs even
greater performance and is ready to go to a full 32-bit design, these
ARM-based microcontrollers provide a clear software migration path
with state-of-the art development tools."
The family includes four specialized microcontrollers, allowing
design engineers to choose the best solution for their specific
challenges. Each microcontroller consumes very little power and
includes a wide range of functionality to reduce total chip count and
accelerate the introduction of end products to market.
Two of the microcontrollers include CAN 2.0b. The LH75401 includes
CAN with a Color LCD Controller and the LH75400 includes CAN with a
grayscale LCD Controller. CAN is a robust protocol ideal for
implementing command, control, and communications in electrically
noisy environments, such as industrial control applications. For
applications not utilizing CAN, SMA offers the LH75411 with a Color
LCD Controller and the LH75410 with a Grayscale LCD Controller.
The Color LCD Controllers on the LH75401 and LH75411 support a
wide range of LCD displays (STN, CSTN, TFT) including Sharp's leading
edge Highly Reflective TFT (HR-TFT) with up to 4096 colors.
Other key features included within the family are a 10-bit Analog
to Digital Converter with integrated touch screen controller, 32KB of
on-chip SRAM, a Vectored Interrupt Controller to speed the serving of
interrupts, three UARTs, SSP, three 16-bit Counter/Timers with capture
& compare logic, Watchdog Timer and Low Voltage Detector. All parts
operate up to 50 MHz at 3.3 V over the industrial temperature range of
-40 C to +85 C.
Sharp Microelectronics has announced several microcontrollers and
System-on-Chips (SoCs) for the mobile multimedia and industrial market
since its designation as Sharp's Global Design Center for MCU and SoC
products early in 2001. Sharp chose the ARM7TDMI core for its line of
16/32 bit MCUs to give engineers access to a wide-range of development
tools and technical support. Customers will also be able to easily
migrate software (utilizing the same development tools) from Sharp's
16/32-bit MCUs to Sharp's more advanced ARM720T or ARM922T based
32-bit SoCs, as their applications' increasing performance
requirements dictate.
"Sharp Microelectronics is committed to taking a meaningful share
of the MCU/SoC market," Thomas said. "With this new microcontroller
family, we round out our product line with system-level solutions
designed specifically to meet the needs of design engineers in the
industrial control, white goods and smart appliances markets."
Inclusive Development and Debugging Support
Customers designing with the LH75400, LH75401, LH75410, and
LH75411 will be able to draw from an extensive array of software
development tools available for the ARM7TDMI(TM) architecture. SMA
will offer a complete development tool kit (Hardware, Software,
Documentation and Application notes) for the 16/32 bit BlueStreak
line, enabling its customers to expedite their applications
development. Designers will be able to plug in their custom hardware,
experiment with different kinds of memory and evaluate the chip's
performance quickly without having to make their own boards.
The LH75400, LH75401, LH75410 and LH75411 are scheduled for
production in September 2002 with production quality samples available
in August 2002.
About Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas
Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas (SMA), Camas, Wash., is a
U.S. based company and a division of Sharp Electronics Corporation
which is a subsidiary of Sharp Corporation, Osaka, Japan. Sharp is a
worldwide developer of core digital technologies that are playing an
integral role in shaping the next generation of electronic products
for consumer and business needs. SMA offers breakthrough memory, LCD,
opto, CCD, RF/IR, microcontroller and system-on-chip components, along
with packaging and integration skills that help design engineers
throughout North and South America bring their ambitious ideas to
market. SMA is dedicated to improving people's lives through the use
of advanced technology and a commitment to innovation, quality, value
and design. More information regarding SMA's products can be found at
www.sharpsma.com or by calling 1-800-642-0261.
Note: All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of
their respective companies. ARM7TDMI(TM) is a trademark of Advanced
RISC Machines (ARM) Ltd.
Contact:
Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas
Terry Thomas, 360/834-8002
thomas@sharpsec.com
or
(Media)
Lesley Wallace, 503/222-0626 Ext. 503
310/753-9829 (mobile)
lwallace@young-roehr.com