07 October 2008

NXP Rolls Out Speedy MCUs Based On ARM Cortex-M3

NXP Semiconductors, the independent semiconductor company founded by Philips, has take the wraps of the LPC1700 series, which it says are the the industry’s fastest microcontroller family based on the ARM Cortex-M3 processor.

NXP said that with running speeds up to 100 MHz, the LPC1700 series of microcontrollers operates from 28 – 64% faster than any competitive Cortex-M3 microcontroller available today. This performance enables the LPC1700 series to operate high-bandwidth communications peripherals such as Ethernet, USB On-The-Go/Host/Device, and CAN simultaneously without bottlenecks. The LPC1700 series targets a wide range of applications, including eMetering, lighting, industrial networking, alarm systems, white goods and motor control.

The LPC1700, based on the Cortex-M3 Revision 2 core, adds tightly integrated power control, including a unique Wake-up Interrupt Controller (WIC). In addition, the LPC1700 is pin-to-pin compatible with the ARM7-based NXP LPC2300 series. This compatibility allows customers to evaluate both the Cortex-M3 and ARM7-based products in the same socket and to choose the right microcontrollers for their applications, NXP said.

“LPC1700 is the fastest Cortex-M3 microcontrollers available, and has been designed for customers requiring simultaneous high bandwidth data streams from Ethernet, USB and CAN,” said Geoff Lees, vice president and general manager, microcontroller product line, NXP Semiconductors. “As always, we are committed to offering our customers the broadest range of choice available in 32-bit MCUs.”

The NXP LPC1700 will be demonstrated at Embedded Systems Conference Boston, US running October 26-30, 2008. Engineering samples will be available starting in December 2008, NXP confirmed.