New RISC Companion Chip From Toshiba Is First IC With On-Chip ATA/ATAPI, USB Device/Host, I2C and PCI Controllers

Cost-Effective Solution Speeds Up Development of Next-Generation Hard-Disk-Based Digital Consumer Appliances

SAN JOSE, Calif., July 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC) today announced a new companion chip for its Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) microprocessors (MPUs) that is the first to integrate an AT Attachment (ATA)/AT Attachment Packet Interface (ATAPI) controller, Universal Serial Bus (USB) device /host controllers, an Inter-IC (I2C) bus controller and a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) controller in a cost-effective single chip. Designated the TC86C001FG, the new chip is targeted at next-generation digital information devices or network devices with hard disk drives. Toshiba has also developed an evaluation board to shorten development time. Sampling starts in September.

"As part of Toshiba"s overall system solution product offering, Toshiba developed the TC86C001FG companion chip to provide a number of industry standard I/O interfaces on a PCI-based device," said Farhad Mafie, vice president of the ASSP Business Unit at TAEC. "This companion chip in conjunction with Toshiba"s highly integrated RISC processors such as the TMPR3927, TMPR4925 and TMPR4927 provides an excellent system solution for a number of embedded applications in the digital consumer and networking segments. We also support many industry-standard operating systems along with the necessary drivers for all supported peripherals to reduce our customers" overall product development time. A key advantage of Toshiba is that we give our customers a competitive edge by meeting their market demands more efficiently."

As an application example, Mr. Mafie said that a personal video recorder with a built-in hard disk drive could be configured easily by combining the TC86C001FG, a TMPR4925 RISC microprocessor and an MPEG2 encoder/decoder LSI. Using the evaluation board, customers can start hardware verification and software development immediately.

    Main Features

    Main features of TC86C001FG include:
    --  A PCI controller, which uses a general-purpose bus, enabling easy
        connection to Toshiba RISC processors such as the TMPR3927, TMPR4925
        and TMPR4927.
    --  An ATA/ATAPI controller, making it easy to embed in digital
        information devices or network devices with a hard disk drive.
    --  A USB1.1 host controller and USB1.1 device controller, making it easy
        to connect various peripheral devices.
    --  An I2C controller, making it possible to reduce the number of pins
        used or the number of wires on a printed circuit board when
        configuring multiple microprocessors with an on-chip I2C bus interface
        or peripheral integrated circuits with a serial bus.


                            Specification Summary

     Part Number          TC86C001FG

     Power Supply Voltage Internal:  1.5V, I/O:  3.3V

     Maximum Operating    Internal:  66.67MHz,
      Frequency           External PCI Bus:  33MHz/32-bit Width

     On-chip Peripheral   ATA/ATAPI Controller (1 Channel:  Can connect up to
      Functions           two devices, supports Ultra ATA/66)
                          PCI Controller (1 Channel, 33MHz/32-bit Width)
                          USB1.1 Host Controller (OpenHCI1.0a Compliant,
                          2 Channels)
                          USB1.1 Device Controller (1 Channel)
                          I2C Controller (1 Channel)
                          SIO Controller (1 Channel)
                          GPIO Controller (Maximum of 5 pins)

     Package              144-pin LQFP (supports no-lead type)

Market Background

The recent rapid increase in digital content such as music and video has spurred demand for digital information devices and network devices with hard disk drives that store large amounts of data. Early internet appliances have been succeeded by first and second generation digital video recorders. Next- generation standalone personal video recorders as well as set-top boxes with built-in digital video recorders are in development with the winning combination of features still undefined. With silicon comprising a substantial percentage of the bill of materials, both cost reduction and time to market are design goals. Therefore, Toshiba developed the TC86C001FG to meet these requirements.

Pricing and Availability

Samples of TC86C001FG are currently available at $15.00 in 100-piece quantities. Mass production is scheduled to begin in first quarter 2003 at an initial run rate of 100,000 chips per month.

About TAEC

Combining quality and flexibility with design engineering expertise, TAEC brings a breadth of advanced, next-generation technologies to its customers. This broad offering includes semiconductors, flash memory-based storage solutions, optical communication devices, displays and rechargeable batteries for the computing, wireless, networking, automotive and digital consumer markets.

TAEC is an independent operating company owned by Toshiba America Inc., a subsidiary of Toshiba, the second largest semiconductor company worldwide in terms of global sales for the year 2001 according to Gartner/Dataquest"s Worldwide Semiconductor Market Share Ranking. Toshiba is a world leader in high-technology products with more than 300 major subsidiaries and affiliates worldwide. For additional company and product information, please visit TAEC"s web site at chips.toshiba.com. For technical inquiries, please e-mail Tech.Questions@taec.toshiba.com.

All trademarks or trade names are the property of their respective owners.

For further information, please contact Deborah Chalmers of Toshiba America Electronics Components, Inc., +1-408-526-2454, deborah.chalmers@taec.toshiba.com; or Judy Kahn, +1-650-948-8881, judygkahn@msn.com, for Toshiba America Electronics Components, Inc.