1999-03-01 , S/IC-2061/45
Product News From Philips Semiconductors

High performance, XA-based serial communications controller is ideal for designs requiring up to 16MB of program and data memory

Philips Semiconductors today announced the first device in a family of 16-bit serial communications controllers based on its high-performance XA core. The XA-SCC offers a flexible, highly integrated solution for communications and networking applications, and its robust feature set is an ideal solution for other high-end, embedded designs.

"Designers have a growing need to interface with a wide variety of memory types and densities," said Geoff Lees, director of marketing for Philips Semiconductors Microcontroller Business Line. "The XA-SCC addresses this need while improving system performance and lowering system cost. It is the most highly-integrated XA Microcontroller produced by Philips Semiconductors today."

The Philips Semiconductors XA-SCC Microcontroller touts a rich set of on-chip features that provide increased performance and reduce overall system cost. It operates at 3.3 volts or 5.0 volts within the industrial temperature range of -40 to +85 degrees C at speeds up to 30MHz. The device has four, high-speed serial communications channels, each capable of supporting a wide variety of protocols with data rates up to 4 M bits per second, and an on-board DMA controller for efficient data movement with minimal CPU support. An on-chip Hardware Autobaud function allows this device to self-configure its baud rate and other serial communication parameters (at rates up to 921.6 K bits per second) eliminating the need to set the configuration in software or with DIP switches. Its IDL interface, which is a Time Division Multiplexed (TDM) bus, supports 8 or 10 bit Frames for glueless connection to a U-chip, ST-chip or other standard physical interface device. A three wire Serial Communications Port (SCP) facilitates the control of external communications components.

In addition to these communications features, the XA-SCC provides an ideal migration path for other embedded applications that interface with DRAM, SRAM, Flash or EPROM and that need high performance. Its integrated memory controller features six programmable chip selects, a de-multiplexed address/data bus, programmable timing, dynamic bus sizing and support for unified memory space. The XA-SCC also has a complete DRAM controller with programmable timing that supports EDO (Extended Data Out) and FPM (Fast Page Mode) DRAM with full refresh. The DRAM controller can support up to five banks of memory, operating at various speeds, with no external glue logic.

The XA-SCC is supported by several third-party tools including Tasking's XA integrated development environment, which includes a C/C++ compiler and Crossview Debugger, and the XTEND-SCC development kit from Future Designs, Inc. Protocol software will be available from CMX and various other vendors.

The XA-SCC (part number, PXASCCKFBE) is available in sample and production quantities in a 100-pin LQFP package.

Philips Semiconductors is the world's leading supplier of the most popular 8-bit architecture, the  80C51, offering more than 100 derivatives. Cahners In-Stat Group, a high-technology market research firm in Scottsdale, Arizona, reported Philips Semiconductors'  80C51 sales of US$ 416 million in 1997, a 42 percent share of the  80C51 8-bit Microcontroller market. Philips Semiconductors 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 Royal Philips Electronics, headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is the eighth largest semiconductor supplier in the world (according to Dataquest's preliminary 1998 ranking by sales). 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 systems labs.