Sanyo plans 32-bit MCUs, ASICs with ARM RISC cores and its own flash memory

Sanyo plans 32-bit MCUs, ASICs with ARM RISC cores and its own flash memory
By Semiconductor Business News
August 2, 2000 (9:55 a.m. EST)
URL: http://www.eetimes.com/story/OEG20000802S0004

CAMBRIDGE, England--ARM Ltd. here today announced a licensing pact with Japan's Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd., which plans to use 32-bit ARM7TDMI processor cores with flash memory in standard microcontrollers and semicustom ASIC chips.

"This licensing agreement has enabled us to develop a new flash microcontroller, suitable for advanced digital devices by integrating Sanyo's qualified flash microcontroller technology with ARM's industry-leading MCU core technology," said Toru Akiyama, deputy general manager of Sanyo's Semiconductor Companies MOS-LSI Department. "We believe that our strong partnership will bring about dramatic changes in the microcontroller market in the near future."

The ARM7TDMI and ARM7TDMI-S cores will be combined with Sanyo's flash memory technology to serve applications in PC peripherals, digital cameras, multimedia devices, portable phones, and mobile information terminals.

Sanyo's flash technology uses a split-gate cel l to reduce power consumption and to simplify peripheral circuitry. That combination of benefits makes the flash memory technology ideally suited for embedded use on microcontrollers and ASICs, according to Sanyo. The addition of ARM's RISC cores will further reduce chip size of 32-bit microcontrollers for portable systems and memory cards, said the Japanese chip maker.

To support the development of new ICs with the RISC cores, Sanyo said it has licensed the ARM Embedded Trace Macrocell (ETM7) debugging system for advanced system-on-chip (SoC) designs.

The licensing pact with Sanyo pushes the ARM7TDMI core further into power-sensitive applications, said Reynette Au, vice president of worldwide marketing at the Cambridge company. "The ARM architecture, coupled with Sanyo's flash memory technology, will enable a full range of innovative solutions for devices using advanced digital microcontrollers," Au said.