Sharp Microelectronics Ships High Performance, 200-MHz System-on-Chip with ARM Core for Multimedia Applications.

Business Editors & Technology Writers

CAMAS, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 12, 2001

Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas (SMA), a U.S.-based company and a division of Sharp Electronics Corporation, today announced that it has shipped beta customers the LH7A400, a 200-MHz System-on-Chip (SoC) with ARM922T(TM) core, offering high performance at the lowest power consumption available.

Beta customers span a wide range of applications: Wireless Handheld Gaming Devices, SmartPhones, PocketPCs, Home Entertainment Controllers and Industrial Web-Tablets & Point-Of-Sale Devices.

The LH7A400 is the second in a family of highly integrated SoCs to be shipped out of the Camas, Wash. facility since it was designated Sharp's North American Design Center for microcontrollers (MCU) and SoC components earlier this year.

"The LH7A400 is targeted at today's Internet and Multimedia-centric applications," said Terry Thomas, SMA's director of marketing for Microcontroller and SoC. "Offering the performance of 200-MHz with high integration and functionality coupled with low power consumption and world-class development tools, the LH7A400 allows designers to lower system costs, shorten development cycles and bring their product to market sooner."

Customers require multimedia devices to be fast and loaded with features. Yet they also expect them to be affordable and have a long battery life. The LH7A400 provides the right balance between performance/feature and cost/power consumption.

To provide high performance, the LH7A400 integrates a 200MHz ARM922T core (ARM9TDMI(TM), 8KB Instruction Cache, 8KB Data Cache, MMU, Write-Back Buffer) with a processing speed of about 220 Million Instructions Per Second (MIPS). The 80KB of on-chip frame buffer allows a 160x240 16-bit image to reside on-chip reducing power consumption and optimizing system bandwidth. System bandwidth is further optimized by the on-chip 10-channel DMA engine.

To provide high integration and reduce cost, the LH7A400 integrates a host of functionality to lower total chip count. The programmable LCD controller supports up to 1024x768 resolution, up to 64,000 colors and 15 gray shades allowing direct interface to STN, Color STN, TFT, Sharp's Highly Reflective & Advanced TFT. For storage and expandability, The LH7A400 provides glue-less interface to SRAM/SDRAM/Flash devices, MMC, PCMCIA/CF and Smart Cards. For communication, the LH7A400 provides serial as well as parallel interfaces (USB, UARTs, Synchronous Interfaces, and AC'97 Codec Interface). The LH7A400 has also a special Watchdog timer to protect the overall system.

To reduce power consumption and increase battery life, the LH7A400 balances performance (200 MHz) with very low leakage current (25uA). This is accomplished by a programmable on-chip PLL and a flexible power management unit that provides the system designer total control over the activities of each function on the LH7A400.

Inclusive Development and Debugging Support

LH7A400 customers will be able to draw from the extensive array of software development tool kits available for the ARM9TDMI(TM) from Advanced RISC Machines (ARM(R)) Ltd. and many third party sources, and use Sharp's own hardware development tool kit and evaluation board for prototyping and expediting applications development. Designers can plug in their custom hardware, experiment with different kinds of memory, and evaluate the chip's performance quickly without having to make their own boards.

Sharps recent announcement of a strategic relationship with Lineo for embedded Linux(R) support will soon be followed with additional support for operating systems such as Microsoft's Windows CE 3.0 and Windows CE .NET operating systems.

Price and Availability

The LH7A400 will be priced under $24 in 10,000 units with production scheduled for Q2, 2002.

About Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas

Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas (SMA), Camas, Wash., is a U.S.-based company and a division of Sharp Electronics Corporation which is a subsidiary of Sharp Corporation, Osaka, Japan. Sharp is a worldwide developer of core digital technologies that are playing an integral role in shaping the next generation of electronic products for consumer and business needs. SMA offers breakthrough memory, LCD, opto, CCD, RF/IR, microcomputer and system-on-chip components, along with packaging and integration skills that help design engineers throughout North and South America bring their ambitious ideas to market. SMA is dedicated to improving people's lives through the use of advanced technology and a commitment to innovation, quality, value and design.

Note: All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. ARM9TDMI(TM), ARM 922T are trademarks of Advanced RISC Machines (ARM) Ltd.