Atmel Launches Flash/AVR-Based Secure Microcontroller for Smart Card Applications.SAN JOSE San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 26, 1998--Atmel Corporation (Nasdaq:ATML ATML Automatic Test Markup Language ATML Automated Test Markup Language ) announced today the AT90SC3232C smart card integrated circuit integrated circuit (IC), electronic circuit built on a semiconductor substrate, usually one of single-crystal silicon. The circuit, often called a chip, is packaged in a hermetically sealed case or a nonhermetic plastic capsule, with leads extending from it for microcontroller (MCU (1) (MicroController Unit) A computer on a single chip. See microcontroller. (2) (Multipoint Control Unit) A device that is used to moderate a videoconference of three or more end points (users at computers or groups of users ). It is the first member of Atmel's AT90SC Flash/AVR(R) MCU product line. Built around Atmel's proprietary 8-bit RISC RISC in full Reduced Instruction Set Computing Computer architecture that uses a limited number of instructions. RISC became popular in microprocessors in the 1980s. AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulation) See voltage regulator. , it features 32K bytes of Flash program memory, 32K bytes of EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM) A rewritable memory chip that holds its content without power. Although EEPROMs spawned flash memory, EEPROMs are byte addressable at the write level, whereas flash chips must erase a block of bytes before rewriting. data memory and 1K byte of RAM workspace. The device also includes a crypto-coprocessor with preprogrammed functions for cryptography and authentication. Atmel's AT90SC3232C is one of the most powerful devices on the market. It targets smart card applications requiring a high level of security from banking, pay TV, medical and social security records, to compute-intensive applications such as GSM SimtoolKit, Java and multi-application cards. As with all Atmel smart card microcontrollers, the AT90SC3232C contains on-chip Flash program memory providing unique advantages to the card manufacturer. By eliminating the ROM mask cycle and allowing emulation on the production device, it significantly reduces time to market and any delays associated with the introduction of a new release. And it allows one product to support several application versions, resulting in reduced inventory and lower costs. The AVR microcontroller has established a leadership in the 8-bit microcontroller market. Its RISC architecture and 32 general-purpose registers enable it to run at nearly one instruction per clock cycle, making it up to 10 times faster than conventional 8-bit CPUs. Its low power consumption makes it ideal for smart card applications while its optimized code density from C source code facilitates software development. An on-board crypto-coprocessor provides exceptional security using asymmetrical encryption algorithms. Running in parallel with the AVR, it combines high speed with flexibility, using a software library in dedicated ROM. Firewalls are provided by a memory supervisor to ensure the integrity of code and data for multiple applications on the same device. Additional security features include (but are not limited to) voltage and frequency checks, bus scrambling and secure layout. To facilitate software development, the AT90SC series is supplied with a complete software development kit (SDK (Software Developer's Kit) See developer's toolkit and Windows SDK. SDK - Software Developers Kit (or "Software Development Kit"). ). This kit allows application developers to perform in-depth verification and debugging. The development chip included in the SDK is functionally identical to the production version, but with direct access to internal buses. Thanks to the Flash program memory, a built-in card reader allows production cards to be programmed immediately during final validation and production ramp-up The AT90SC3232C is available in sample quantities now. Prices start at $4.2 each for 100k units. Founded in 1984, Atmel Corporation is headquartered in San Jose, with principal manufacturing facilities in Colorado Springs, Colo., Nantes and Rousset, France and Heilbronn, Germany. Atmel designs, develops, manufactures and markets on a worldwide basis semiconductors, including nonvolatile and embedded memory, logic, analog, microcontroller products and system-level integration (SLI (Scalable Link Interface) A multi-GPU interface from NVIDIA for connecting two or four NVIDIA display adapters together for faster graphics rendering on one monitor or two monitors. ) solutions using advanced CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) Pronounced "c-moss." The most widely used integrated circuit design. It is found in almost every electronic product from handheld devices to mainframes. , BiCMOS, BiPolar and SiGe process technologies. Atmel product and financial information can be retrieved from its Fax-on-Demand service. In North America call 1-800/292-8635. Internationally from a fax phone, dial 1-408/441-0732. Requests may be sent via e-mail to literature@atmel.com or by visiting Atmel's website at www.atmel.com. Note to Editors: Atmel, the Atmel logo and combinations thereof are trademarks of Atmel Corporation. AVR is a registered trademark of Atmel Corporation. Additional terms and product names in this document may be trademarks of others. |
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