NXP has unveiled a new line of ARM Cortex-M0 based LPC1100 microcontroller family, which the claims to not only executive basic control tasks but also sophisticated algorithms with over 45 DMIPS of performance compared to the sub-DMIP performance typical of 8-bit MCUs and 3 to 5 DMIPS for 16-bit MCUs
According to NXP, the new microcontroller family requires 40-50% smaller code for most common tasks. It comes with features such as, 50MHz Cortex-M0 processor with SWD/debug; 32 vectored interrupts; 4 priority levels; dedicated interrupts on up to 13 GPIOs; and two 16-bit and two 32-bit timers with a PWM/Match/Capture.
In addition, the new family comes with a 12MHz internal RC oscillator, Power-On-Reset with multi-level Brown-Out-Detect, a 10-50MHz phase locked loop, 8-channel high precision 10-bit ADC, and a single 1.8 to 3.6V power supply among others.
Geoff Lees, vice president and general manager, microcontroller product line at NXP, said: “Existing 8-bit architectures have their origins in the early era of the semiconductor industry, resulting in limitations of address range, register restrictions, limited functionality, unsuitability for high-level languages, and little attention to power and scaling issues.
“The Cortex-M0 processor core and system architecture take full advantage of today’s optimised low-power design tools, techniques, and the latest low-power, high-density silicon flash process.”
