NEC Electronics Europe Announces V850E/MA3 Microcontroller; New Performance Leader in Popular V850 Microcontroller Family

General-Purpose and Motor Control Single-Chip Microcontroller Delivers

Düsseldorf, Germany — 23 Apr 2003

NEC Electronics Europe today introduced the new V850E/MA3 microcontroller (MCU), the latest addition to the company's V850E family of microcontrollers. The new V850E/MA3 microcontroller, the highest-performing device with embedded large flash and mask read-only memory (ROM) in NEC Electronics' popular 32-bit V850 microcontroller family, operates at 80 megahertz (MHz) and executes 106 Dhrystone1.1 million instructions per second (MIPS). The microcontroller's large memory capacity, broad peripheral set and high performance can enable a variety of applications requiring real-time processing, including printers, networked consumer appliances, digital audio/video (A/V) systems, inverter motor controllers and industrial equipment.

The V850E/MA3 microcontroller was designed to meet high-performance needs, but it also integrates a large number of peripherals on-chip, thereby lowering component counts for cost-sensitive applications. In addition to its high operating frequency, the V850E/MA3 microcontroller achieves its high performance by providing up to 512 kilobytes (KB) of on-chip ROM and 32 KB of on-chip random access memory (RAM). This large memory capacity doubles the number of instructions that can be read and executed in one clock cycle. Furthermore, the V850E/MA3 microcontroller also lowers overall system costs by providing enough memory on board to support applications such as inverters and AC servo controllers that traditionally required off-chip memory.

The large number of peripherals onboard the V850E/MA3 microcontroller further reduces the need for additional components. The MCU's peripheral set includes a powerful timer function capable of controlling a 3-phase motor, a 5-megabit per second (Mbps) asynchronous serial interface, a 10-MHz clocked serial interface, an I2C bus interface, a 10-bit A/D converter and an 8-bit D/A converter. This broad peripheral set allows the V850E/MA3 microcontroller to drive a variety of system types, all from one chip.

To support applications such as printers and digital A/V equipment that must process large amounts of data, the V850E/MA3 microcontroller uses an on-chip memory controller and a 50-MHz external bus to provide an interface to up 512 megabits (Mb) of off-chip synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM).

The V850E/MA3 microcontroller also offers a debugging control unit to support on-chip debugging functions. By connecting to an N-wire in-circuit emulator (ICE) unit via the V850E/MA3 microcontroller's JTAG-based debugging interface, designers can check and debug a program while the chip is mounted, enabling the economic construction of a software development environment.

Availability

Production quantities of the V850E/MA3 microcontroller are available now in a variety of ROM and RAM memory sizes and in 144-pin LQFP and 161-pin PBGA packages.

About NEC Electronics Corporation

NEC Electronics worldwide specializes in semiconductor products encompassing advanced technology solutions for the high-end computing and broadband networking markets; system solutions for the mobile handsets, PC peripherals, automotive and digital consumer markets; and platform solutions for a wide range of customer applications. NEC Electronics Corporation has 24 subsidiaries worldwide including NEC Electronics America, Inc. and NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH. In addition to marketing, selling and supporting NEC Electronics products to customers in their respective regions, NEC Electronics America and NEC Electronics Europe also operate local manufacturing facilities in Roseville, California, and Ballivor, Ireland, respectively. Additionally, NEC Electronics America is the North American sales and marketing channel of NEC AM-LCD and PDP modules, and NEC Electronics (Europe) is the sales and marketing channel in Europe for these products. Additional information about NEC Electronics worldwide can be found at http://www.necel.com. NEC Electronics Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation (NASDAQ: NIPNY) (FTSE: 6701q.l), one of the world's leading providers of Internet, broadband network and enterprise business solutions.

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.

For further details contact Will Gilbert, Sunrise Electronics Limited Tel: 01908 263999, Fax: 01908 263003 or click: