Atmel licenses 32-bit Arm cores, partners with Gemplus in chip sets

Atmel licenses 32-bit Arm cores, partners with Gemplus in chip sets
By Semiconductor Business News
October 9, 2000 (4:37 p.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20001009S0057

SAN JOSE -- In a move to beef up its system-on-chip designs, Atmel Corp. here today announced it has licensed a pair of 32-bit RISC core from U.K.-based Arm Ltd. Atmel said the Arm920T and Arm946E-S cores will used in highly integrated 32-bit microcontrollers and ASICs for wireless, wireline, multimedia and secure-chip applications.

The Arm920T core is a cached processor aimed at open systems, which require full virtual-memory management and memory protection. The Arm946E-S is a synthesizable processor with flexible cache memory sizes, targeted for closed embedded applications with memory management requirements.

The Arm9 core series is capable of supporting processing speeds up to 220 million of instructions per second (MIPS) and is suited for microcontrollers in wireless systems, multimedia imaging, and secure system-on-chip (SoC) designs, said John Ford, director of ASIC marketing at Atmel.

Atmel said the Arm946-E offers flexibilit y in size and type of cache memory. It will be used in Atmel's FlashASIC and E2ASIC products to offer customers nonvolatile memory solutions in SoC designs. The core can be synthesized with design tools, making it possible to quickly port ICs to new process technology and accelerate the time to market, Atmel said. The Arm920T solution will be used for handheld computing and Internet appliance applications.

"This agreement enhances Atmel's already impressive ability to provide innovative products for wireless RF, multimedia, and secure SoCs for a diverse marketplace," said Reynette Au, vice president of worldwide marketing for Arm of Cambridge, England. "Our continued partnership with leading semiconductor manufacturers like Atmel demonstrates our commitment to the ever increasing needs of high-performance, low-power technologies."

Atmel said it will use the ARM9 cores in standard SoC products, including encryption/decryption engines for smart card ICs, set-top box controllers, video imaging systems , DVD storage products, video conferencing, Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and internet appliances.

In a separate deal, Atmel said it has agreed to support the GemCore chip set from Gemplus S.C.A., which is using the product to pursue new smart-card applications in set-top boxes, mobile phones, and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Gemplus of Bernin, France, is using Atmel's T8xC5101 8-bit microcontroller in the new chip set.

"This cooperation will develop business for both companies in the fast growing smart-card interface market," said Vincent Prothon, Gemplus' marketing and business development manager for GemCore products. "Gemplus' expertise in smart card and Atmel's knowledge of consumer and telecom market will help to develop and promote the right solutions at optimized costs, especially for set-top-boxes and mobile phones manufacturers."