NEC Electronics Introduces 19 New 78K0R/Ix3 16-bit All Flash™ Microcontrollers for Inverter Control

NEC Electronics today announced a new line of 16-bit All Flash™ microcontrollers (MCUs) for inverter control applications. Built around NEC Electronics’ fast and efficient 78K0R CPU core, the 19 MCUs in the 78K0R/Ix3 lineup are designed to enable a new generation of intelligent and eco-friendly appliances and motor drives. All devices in the lineup feature integrated inverter control circuits and deliver best-of-class power performance.

Inverter control systems are found in an ever-wider range of products, in response to consumer demand for more energy-efficient appliances. Fine-tuned control of motors and heating elements can deliver significant energy savings in products ranging from refrigerators and air conditioners to dishwashers and magnetic induction cooking appliances. NEC Electronics’ 78K0R/Ix3 MCUs, with 16-bit performance and 8-bit power consumption levels, are ideal for such applications.

All devices in the lineup share the following features: (1) CPU power consumption of only 1.8 milliwatts (mW) per MIPS (*1), the highest performance-to-power-consumption ratio in the industry; (2) on-chip oscillators capable of driving timers at rates up to 40 megahertz (MHz) for fine-tuned inverter control; (3) integrated hardware multiply and divide functionality for fast processing of mathematical algorithms; (4) integration of all analog circuits required for inverter control, including comparators and an integrated operational amplifier (op amp).

This combination of features responds to strong demand from appliance manufacturers for flexible, low-cost, high-performance MCUs to help shorten time to market. Under pressure to differentiate their products from competitor offerings, manufacturers stress innovative features, stylish design and lower power consumption, but this results in mounting development costs and longer development schedules. NEC Electronics’ new MCUs allow fine-grained control of multiple types of 3-phase motors, making it easy to develop eco-friendly appliances. In addition, an all-flash memory configuration means that programs can be updated even after an MCU is mounted on a system board, allowing manufacturers to accelerate development schedules by developing software in parallel with hardware.

The principal features of NEC Electronics’ 78K0R/Ix3 MCUs are:

(1) Industry-leading performance to power consumption ratio
The new MCUs are built around NEC Electronics’ 78K0R CPU core that executes 13 MIPS at a clock speed of 20 MHz. Advances in process technology enable power consumption of only 1.8 mW per MIPS.

(2) Fine-tuned inverter control via integrated multifunction timers
Multifunction timers function as interval timers to generate periodic interrupts, as dividers to generate clock signals by dividing an input frequency, and as event counters to count external signals. The number of timer units has been increased from 8 channels to 12. This allows one channel of 6-phase pulse-width modulation (PWM) (*2) output for the 3-phase motors generally used in inverter control applications, as well as two channels of the half-bridge PWM (*3) output commonly used in magnetic induction cooking systems.

(3) First 16-bit MCUs with integrated inverter control circuits
In another industry first, the 78K0R/Ix3 MCUs integrate all of the basic analog circuits needed for inverter control, including an op amp, comparators, and high-speed A/D converters. By replacing discrete components with an integrated solution, manufacturers can dramatically reduce their bill of materials costs and save space on system boards.

(4) Wide selection of memory and packaging options
Available on-chip memory configurations include 16, 32, 48 or 64 kilobytes (KB) of internal flash memory and 1, 1.5, 2 or 3 KB of internal RAM. Packaging options include SSOP and LQFP packages in pin counts ranging from 30 to 64 pins. With a total of 19 MCUs in the lineup, designers can choose the optimum configuration for their applications.

(5) Full development tools support
NEC Electronics’ MCUs are supported by a comprehensive suite of development tools, including NEC Electronics’ MINICUBE2 on-chip debugger, IECUBE emulator for full tracing, starter kits and software tools. Compiler suites are also available from third-party source, IAR Systems.

Offering 16-bit performance at 8-bit power consumption levels, these new MCUs will enable appliance manufacturers to reduce bill of materials and development costs, and be faster to market with the eco-friendly products that consumers demand. The principal specifications of the new MCUs can be found in the attachment at the end of this news release. 

Availability
The 78K0R/Ix3 MCUs are expected to be available in sample quantities in May 2008. Volume production is scheduled to start in December 2008. Total monthly production of the 19 new devices is expected to reach approximately 3 million units by 2010. Pricing and availability are subject to change without notice.

The main specification of the 78K0R/Ix3 MCUs can be found here.

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(*1) MIPS
Abbreviation of million instructions per second. The cited value of 13 MIPS is based on the microcontroller Dhrystone benchmark (version 1.1) score.

(*2) 6-phase PWM
6-phase pulse-width modulation. A motor with U-phase, V-phase, and W-phase coils rotates when AC currents of different phase are supplied to each of the coils. The AC currents are generated by supplying 6-phase PWM output to six transistor channels, consisting of three upper-arm phases and three lower-arm phases.

(*3) Half-bridge PWM
Pulse-width modulation (PWM) output consisting of an upper-arm phase and a lower-arm phase. Half-bridge PWM is commonly used by magnetic induction cooking heaters instead of 6-phase PWM.

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All Flash is a trademark of NEC Electronics Corporation. All Flash MCUs are based on advanced 0.15-micron processes using SuperFlash® technology licensed from Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. NEC Electronics is either a registered trademark or trademark of NEC Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.