NXP Semiconductors unveils industry's first ARM7 microcontrollers with dual high-speed buses

NXP LPC2300 and LPC2400 feature two AHB buses enabling simultaneous operation of Ethernet, USB, CAN, SDRAM and other peripherals

September 25, 2006 -- NXP Semiconductors, the newly independent semiconductor company founded by Philips, today announced the industry's first ARM7-based microcontroller (MCU) series with dual high-speed buses for simultaneous communications operations. The NXP LPC2300 and LPC2400 are the only ARM7 MCUs with two ARM high-speed buses (AHB) enabling simultaneous operation of high-bandwidth peripherals such as Ethernet, USB On-The-Go (OTG), USB Host, CAN, SDRAM and on-chip Flash. The NXP LPC2400 is also the only ARM7 MCU with two-port USB Host capability permitting new advances for multiple communications applications.

"The explosive growth of Ethernet in the industrial networking and infotainment markets has created tremendous demand for high-performance 32-bit MCUs with Ethernet and other high-bandwidth communications peripherals," said Geoff Lees, general manager, microcontroller product line, NXP Semiconductors. "NXP is the first to fulfill this need with the only ARM7-based microcontroller series that can perform multiple high-speed communications operations simultaneously. The NXP LPC2300 and LPC2400 will allow designers more freedom for innovation in industrial networking environments."

The dual AHB buses and three independent direct memory access engines allow multiple high-bandwidth peripherals to operate at the same time without overwhelming the bus and improve the worst case by over 50 percent. This makes the NXP LPC2300 and LPC2400 ideal for a wide range of high-performance communications applications such as industrial networking, infotainment, consumer and medical devices, and point-of-sale equipment. The NXP LPC2300 and LPC2400 are also the first ARM7 MCUs with a real-time clock (RTC) with 2KB of battery back-up SRAM, which allows the RTC to continue running even when the chip's power is shut down.

The large array of peripherals available on both the NXP LPC2300 and LPC2400 include two AHB buses, Ethernet, two CAN controllers, four UARTs, SPI, SSP, three I²C buses, I2S, RTC, ADC/DAC and SD/MMC Card interface. The NXP LPC2400 also includes USB OTG integrated with two-port host capability, and external interfaces to SDRAM and NOR Flash. These two microcontrollers further strengthen NXP's comprehensive portfolio of best-in-class ARM-based microcontrollers, making it the most comprehensive collection in the industry.

Availability

The NXP LPC2300 microcontroller is available immediately. The NXP LPC2400 microcontroller will be available in November 2006. The LPC2300 will be shown at the ARM Developers' Conference in Santa Clara, Calif., October 3 - 5, 2006, at Booth #612.

More information about the NXP LPC2300 and LPC2400 can be found at: www.nxp.com/microcontrollers.

About NXP Semiconductors

NXP Semiconductors is a top 10 semiconductor company founded by Philips more than 50 years ago. Headquartered in the Netherlands, the company has 37,000 employees working in 20 countries across the world. NXP creates semiconductors, system solutions and software that deliver better sensory experiences in mobile phones, personal media players, TVs, set-top boxes, identification applications, cars and a wide range of other electronic devices. News from NXP is located at www.nxp.com.