Intersil's New Real Time Clock Features High Accuracy and Ultra-Low-Power Consumption along with InterSeal Battery Saver Technology.

MILPITAS, Calif. -- Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ:ISIL):

--ISL1208 Features Intersil's InterSeal(TM) Technology, Which Prevents Initial Battery Current Drain on Products until the Unit is First Powered up; Feature is Ideal for Products That May Be on Shelf for an Extended Time before First Use

Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ:ISIL), a world leader in the design and manufacture of high performance analog solutions, introduced today the ISL1208 Real Time Clock (RTC) that combines high-precision and low-power consumption for a wide variety of applications which require very accurate clock and calendar functions. In addition, the device incorporates Intersil's InterSeal battery saver technology, which prevents any current drain on the battery until the unit is first powered up.

The InterSeal feature is an obvious benefit for products that might be stored for some time before they are first used. Applications for these products include telecom systems, consumer electronics, industrial, medical devices, and security related equipment and systems.

"In addition to providing accurate clock and calendar functions, the InterSeal battery saver technology prevents battery drain during a product's shelf life; this feature, along with the device's low 400nA current consumption at 3.0V and small footprint make it an ideal solution for handheld battery powered applications," said Rouben Gharagozian, marketing director for timing device products at Intersil. "Our new RTC integrates timing and crystal compensation circuitry, flexible alarm, programmable clock output, power fail detection and intelligent battery backup switching into one space-saving package."

The ISL1208 device is a low power real time clock with timing and crystal compensation, clock/calendar, power fail indicator, periodic or polled alarm, intelligent battery backup switching and battery-backed user SRAM. With analog trimming register (ATR) and digital trimming register (DTR) functions, external crystal frequencies can be easily tuned. It features an I2C interface that provides 400kHz data transfer rate. The device supports 15 selectable frequency outputs, power failure detection and automatic backup to battery or Super Cap.

Applications with high accuracy requirements will benefit from using the ISL1208, which contains circuitry for adjusting the frequency of the crystal oscillator. This circuitry can be used to tune oscillator frequency, critical in compensating for PCB layout and temperature changes. The oscillator uses an external, low-cost 32.768kHz crystal. The real time clock tracks time with separate registers for hours, minutes and seconds. The device has calendar registers for date, month, year and day of the week. The calendar is accurate through 2099, with automatic leap year correction.

For microprocessor and other timing applications, the real time clocks can provide one of 15 different frequency output signals via the IRQ/Fout pin. Users have access to 2 bytes of battery-backed SRAM that can be used for scratchpad memory. Applications with a limited power budget can utilize the device's low power mode for a supply current saving of about 400nA when powered from VDD. The InterSeal battery saver feature prevents initial battery current drain before the RTC device is first used. The ISL1208 is functionally compatible to the ST M41Txx and Maxim DS13xx devices.

Key Features

    --  Intersil InterSeal battery saver
    --  Accurate real time clock and calendar
        --  Tracks time in hours, minutes and seconds
        --  Day of the week, day, month and year
    --  Flexible alarm with single event and pulse interrupt mode
        --  Settable to the second, minute, hour, day of the week, day
            or month
        --  Single event or pulse interrupt mode
    --  15 selectable frequency outputs
    --  Automatic backup to battery or super cap
    --  On-chip oscillator compensation
    --  2 bytes of battery-backed user SRAM
    --  400nA battery supply current at 3.0V

Target Applications:

    --  Utility meters, HVAC and POS equipment, test meters and
        fixtures
    --  Home appliances, audio-video components
    --  PDAs and pagers
    --  Set-top boxes, modems, network routers, hubs, switches,
        bridges
    --  Cellular infrastructure and fixed broadband wireless equipment
    --  Computer products and office automation equipment (copiers,
        fax
    --  Automotive

Availability and Pricing

The ISL1208 is available now, in either standard lead finish or Pb-free. The ISL1208 is offered in an 8-lead SOIC package and in 1,000-unit volumes is priced at $1.10 each; in 8-lead MSOP packages the price is $1.20 each. To learn more about the ISL1208, or any of Intersil's broad portfolio of high performance analog products, visit the Company's web site at: http://www.intersil.com.

About Intersil

Intersil Corporation, a NASDAQ 100 Index company, is a leader in the design and manufacture of high performance analog semiconductors. The company's products address three of the industry's fastest growing markets: flat panel displays, optical storage (CD and DVD recordable) and power management. Intersil products include power management devices for battery management, hot-swap and hot-plug controllers, linear regulators, supervisory ICs, switching DC / DC regulators and power MOSFET drivers; optical storage laser diode drivers; DSL line drivers; video and high performance operational amplifiers; data converters; interface ICs; analog switches and multiplexers; crosspoint switches; voice-over-IP devices; and ICs for military, space and rad-hard applications. For more information about Intersil or to find out how to become a member of our winning team, visit the company's web site and career page at http://www.intersil.com.

This release may include "forward-looking statements" that are subject to risks and uncertainties. For information identifying economic, political, climatic, currency, regulatory, technological, competitive and some other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements, see Intersil's Safe Harbor Forward-Looking Statement disclaimer found at http://www.intersil.com/legal.asp, as well as Intersil's SEC filings as updated from time to time, found at http://www.sec.gov.

InterSeal is a trademark of Intersil Corporation. All other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.