Feature-rich F Series forces down the cost of 32-bit microcontroller design

Sunrise Electronics adds new devices to successful NEC product line

Dedicated distributor, Sunrise Electronics has just added two new devices to NEC’s popular F Series family of microcontrollers with on-board CAN support and extensive on-board peripherals. This is the first time NEC have offered 32-bit devices in space saving low pin count packages.

NEC’s F Series family consists of a variety of competitively priced devices with extensive on-board peripherals in a wide range of pin counts and memory sizes. The new V850ES/FE2 and V850ES/FF2 offer all this for the first time in 64-pin and 80-pin packages respectively, and with wide temperature range options capable of operation from -40 to +110 ºC.

Based on the powerful 32-bit V850ES core operating at 20MHz, with a min 50ns instruction cycle time, NEC’s new F Series devices offer a choice of RAM sizes from 4 to 12K and a variety of FLASH and Mask ROM options from 64 to 256Kbytes. Single voltage FLASH technology allows both in-circuit and in-application programming of this series of devices. The V850ES/FE2 offers 51 I/O ports and 10 channels of 10-bit ADC. The V850ES/FF2 has 67 I/O ports and 12 channels of 10-bit ADC. Both types have 7 channels of 16-bit PWM, one CAN channel and two channel LIN-capable UART.

NEC’s F Series features on-chip peripherals that help reduce the number of external components, thus reducing system cost and increasing system reliability. Power-On Clear (POC) monitors the external power supply during power-up and holds the reset until a secure voltage level is achieved. This replaces an external reset device. A Low-Voltage Indicator (LVI) generates a reset or an interrupt when the supply voltage level drops below a defined level – this replaces an external voltage detector. The Internal Ring Oscillator can be used as a clock monitor to observe the main clock during operation. It can also operate the internal Watchdog timer replacing an external Watchdog device. Finally the LIN UART provides hardware support for automatic Sync Break Field recognition and LIN wake-up without an additional interrupt pin. This considerably reduces software development for LIN communication.

Sunrise Electronics provides complete design in support for the F-line family, including a range of development tools for this highly scalable family.

Once written for a specific F Series device, software modules can be re-used for other devices in the family without changes. This is possible due to the consistent re-use of core and peripheral macros in all devices, including registers and address areas. On-chip debug facilities also reduce development times. Similar economies are maintained for hardware design. As the same placing has been used for the peripheral macros in all package options, designers can easily change the package without facing a complete redesign of the PCB.

Further information and samples are available on request from Sunrise Electronics.

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Sunrise Electronics is the only dedicated franchised distributor in the UK electronics market and provides a high level of technical design support to customers for the whole range of NEC semiconductor products including microprocessors, microcontrollers and ASICs as well as memory and colour LCD panels. The field sales team is technically qualified to ensure total support from design concept through to purchasing.

Sunrise is a direct ship distributor. The majority of shipments are delivered directly to customers from NEC’s own ISO9000 warehouse. This ensures reduced handling; correct packaging, especially for fine pitch surface mount devices requiring vacuum sealing, factory fresh product and timely deliveries.