1998-07-20 , S/IC-2033/45
Product News From Philips Semiconductors

Company's XA-G3 reduced by more than 30 percent

Philips Semiconductors today announced a price reduction for its 16-bit microcontroller, the  XA-G3, by more than 30 percent effective immediately. The company decreased prices of the first member of its 16-bit XA (eXtended Architecture) family to help provide designers with an easier migration path from 8- to 16-bit architectures.

Philips Semiconductors is making significant strides in reducing design costs for customers by offering the XA-G3 as the low-price leader for the XA family. The first microcontroller on the market to extend the popular  80C51 architecture to 16-bit operation, the XA-G3 is ideal for use in a wide range of embedded applications - providing substantially higher performance and more memory.

"As the 16-bit market continues to increase at an incredible rate, the XA-G3 has become our most important 80C51 to XA migration tool that allows designers a smooth transition without a significant cost investment," said Geoff Lees, international product marketing manager for Philips Semiconductors' Microcontroller Business Line. "The XA-G3 offers complete downward compatibility that preserves designers' existing 8-bit code while taking full advantage of speeds 10 to 100 times faster than is possible with 8-bit 80C51 microcontrollers."

Specific features of the XA-G3 include 32K of on-chip EPROM/ROM program memory, 512 bytes of on-chip data RAM, and 1MB of external program and data memory space. It also offers 20-bit external addressing, three standard 16-bit counter/timers with enhanced features, and a watchdog timer. The XA-G3 also incorporates two enhanced UARTs, and four 8-bit I/O ports with software configurable outputs. It supports 2.7V to 5.5V static operation, and is available in 44-pin QFP and 44-pin PLCC versions. Both versions are pin-compatible with the 80C51.

Philips Semiconductors also offers the  XA-S3, a full-featured derivative with 1024 bytes of RAM, extra I/O, a high-resolution A/D converter, a powerful Programmable Counter Array (PCA) and an I²C serial interface. Philips Semiconductors will be expanding the XA family with multiple derivatives that support various high-performance embedded control applications technologies such as modems, telephones, car systems, industrial motor control, global positioning systems, smart cards and video on-screen applications.

ROM-less versions of the XA-G3 are available at US$4.00 in quantities of 1,000, suggested resale price. Masked ROM is also available. One-time programmable (OTP) and ROM-less versions are in-stock and available now through Philips Semiconductors' network of worldwide distributors.

Philips Semiconductors is the world's leading supplier of the most popular 8-bit architecture, the 80C51, offering more than 100 derivatives. In-Stat, an independent semiconductor research firm, reported Philips' 80C51 sales of US $416 million in 1997, a 42% share of the 80C51 8-bit microcontroller market. Philips has recently extended this successful architecture into 16-bit performance with its XA. Now customers can preserve their software, development tools and technology investment in the 80C51 while capitalizing on the 16-bit performance requirements in a market expected to double in the next two years.

Philips Semiconductors, a division of Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV, headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is the ninth largest semiconductor supplier in the world. Philips Semiconductors' innovations in digital audio, video, and mobile technology position the company as a leader in the consumer, multimedia and wireless communications markets. Sales offices are located in all major markets around the world, and are supported by regional customer application labs.