TOSHIBA ENTERS THE 32-BIT MICROCONTROLLER MARKET; With One of The Fastest 32-bit MCUs On The Market.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 17, 1996--Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC) today announced its entry into the 32-bit microcontroller (MCU) market with its first TLCS-900/H2 device. This new device, at 11.59MIPS, is approximately four times faster than Toshiba's high performance 16-bit microcontrollers and is one of the fastest 32-bit MCUs on the market. Toshiba's new 32-bit MCU is an ideal solution for math or process intensive applications such as electronic data processing (EDP) as well as office automation, telecommunications, printers, instrumentation, industrial control and automotive.

The new 32-bit microcontroller, designated TMP94CS241F, provides designers with extremely fast performance; 11.59MIPS, using an internal Toshiba benchmark. Using the Dhrystone benchmark, the performance is 9.54MIPS (with internal memory access) and 5.80MIPS (with external memory access). The benchmark numbers were derived using Toshiba's 16-bit C compiler. Toshiba expects that the benchmark numbers will increase significantly when compiled with a 32-bit C compiler. This high performance microcontroller meets the requirements needed to migrate from a 16-bit to a 32-bit solution especially in increasingly complex needs such as printing high definition pictures or performing difficult encryption or coding tasks.

"Toshiba continues to develop its cutting edge technology in the area of microcontrollers," said Bob Salem, senior staff product marketing engineer, microcomputer products for Toshiba. "The 32-bit MCU was developed as a part of a migration path from Toshiba's 16-bit MCU line. By adding the new 32-bit device Toshiba now offers a complete line of MCU solutions to best fit designers needs."

The device uses a new high speed 32-bit core architecture that is optimized for C-code efficiency and execution. The 32-bit MCU instruction code is compatible with Toshiba's 16-bit TLCS-900 family which in turn will accept the TLCS-90 8-bit code (the TLCS-90 is a super set of the Z80 code). This allows designers to use existing application software when migrating from one generation to the next.

In designing the new 32-bit MCU Toshiba focused both on the hardware and software performance. "Many designers base their selection of an MCU on ease of use in software tools, performance, features and price," added Salem. "This new 32-bit device offers designers the right solution at a low cost."

The new 32-bit microcontroller has internal Phase Lock Loop (PLL) allowing the microcontroller to use the low speed external clock rate of 10 megahertz (MHz) and double it to 20MHz. "A 10MHz clock gives designers the ability to use a lower cost oscillator, thus saving in overall systems' cost," added Salem. "In addition, the use of the PLL will reduce system noise, Electromagnetic Interference (EMI)."

The core is capable of executing instructions in one clock cycle. At 20MHz, this gives instruction execution times as fast as 50 nanoseconds (ns). With a large percentage of instructions capable of being executed in one clock cycle, the performance of the microcontroller is increased. The core has added a new enhanced micro-DMA controller. This micro-DMA controller greatly reduces interrupt processing overhead by performing interrupt data driven transfer in hardware as opposed to executing a service routine for every interrupt.

The new microcontroller has 2 kilobytes (KB) of internal RAM. In many math intensive applications this large RAM size is an advantage for the CPU. The 2KB of RAM allows the designer's program to utilize more variables when calculating, therefore improving the performance. The new device is ROMless, providing designers the ability to modify the code necessary to run the MCU without requiring a mask ROM (MROM) for every revision. "The benefit of being a ROMless MCU is the ease and flexibility of changing the code. With on-board-ROM the code is committed," stated Salem.

An external memory address bus allows the MCU to access additional memory such as ROM, DRAM or SRAM. With an extremely efficient memory interface inherent to the core, this contributes to the overall high performance of the TLCS-900/H2. Toshiba's new 32-bit MCU also has an on-board DRAM controller eliminating the need for a separate external DRAM controller.

The TLCS-900/H2 32-bit MCU has an operating voltage range of 4.5 volts (V) to 5.5V at 10 megahertz (MHz) with an estimated operating current of 100 milliamperes (mA) maximum. -0-

Additional Features Include:

 -- Serial Channel (2 channels)
 -- Multiple Timers (9 Timers)
    -- Four 16-bit Timers
    -- Four 8-bit Timers
    -- Watchdog Timer
 -- 10-bit A/D Converter (8 channels)
 -- 8-bit D/A Converter (2 channels)
 -- 28 Interrupt Sources
 -- Chip Select Controller (6 outputs)
 -- Large Number of I/O Ports (64 pins)

General Architectural Features Include:

 -- 16MB Linear Address Space
 -- Dynamic External Bus (i.e. 8, 16 or 32-bit)
 -- TLCS-90/900 instruction Mnemonic Upward Compatible
 -- General Purpose 32-bit Registers
 -- Register Bank Format
 -- Core Optimized for Efficient C

TLCS-900/H2 Specification Summary:

Part Number ROM   RAM  Power Supply   Operate.  Standby   Packaging
            Size  Size                Current   Current
                                       (max)     (max)
TMP94CS241F ---   2048 4.5-5.5V@10MHz  100mA    10micro-A 160-pin QFP
                  Bytes                (est.)

With the addition of the 32-bit MCU, Toshiba now offers one of the largest MCU product lines available. Toshiba's microcontroller products include, 4-bit, 8-bit, 16-bit (standard, low-power and high performance) and now 32-bit, giving the industry a complete price/performance solution. In April of this year, Toshiba announced its microcontroller product road map detailing its commitment to the on-going development of cutting edge MCU technology.

Pricing and Availability:

Samples of the TMP94CS241F will be available in first quarter, 1997, with full production quantities scheduled for third quarter, 1997. Pricing in 10,000 piece lots is $25. The new 32-bit MCU comes in a 160-pin quad flat package (QFP).

TAEC is the North American engineering, manufacturing, sales and marketing arm of one of the world's largest suppliers of semiconductors, integrated circuits and electronic components for industrial and consumer applications. The company is the recognized leader in CMOS technology and has one of the broadest IC product lines in the industry. In addition, Toshiba is a leading manufacturer of technologically advanced electron tubes and solid state devices, including color picture tubes, liquid crystal displays, medical tubes, rechargeable batteries, microwave components, laser diodes and optical transmission devices.

The company is located at 9775 Toledo Way, Irvine, Calif., 92618-1811. For more company information, the Internet home page address for TAEC is: http://www.toshiba.com. -0-

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CONTACT: Toshiba America Electronic Components Inc.

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