STMicroelectronics Announces NFC SoC for Contactless User Services
February 22, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS
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STMicroelectronics (ST) announced a secure system on chip (SoC) implemented in advanced silicon technology for the near field communication (NFC) market.
NFC technology provides wireless or contactless services for users, such as electronic payment via mobile phone, contactless banking, transport ticketing and smart poster applications.
Implemented in the company's 0.13 micron embedded nonvolatile memory electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) technology, the ST21NFCA integrates all the hardware and software needed for a complete NFC system, including support for all NFC proximity and vicinity standards, ST said.
Developed to be used in mobile devices, or within the PC environment, the ST21NFCA is an integrated SoC integrated circuit (IC) that offers hardware capability for contactless communication at 13.56 MHz.
It can be designed into radio frequency (RF) reader systems, as well as RF tag or contactless smart cards. The device also integrates host controller interface (HCI) functions, in addition to interfaces for both the inter-integrated circuit (I2C) bus and service provider interface (SPI) bus.
It is compliant with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) specification for single wire protocol (SWP), which describes the connection between a mobile phone's universal integrated circuit card (UICC) and the NFC controller.
Based on the technology and the architectures already implemented in the ST subscriber identity module (SIM) card range, the ST21NFCA includes the ST21 smart card microcontroller along with 36 KB of EEPROM, 112 KB of user read-only memory (ROM) and 4 KB of random access memory (RAM).
In addition, the chip includes an integrated RF analog front end (AFE) and embedded firmware that supports the existing contactless standards for proximity and vicinity.
ST said the chip firmware provides fast and easy design and implementation for mobile phone and portable consumer equipment manufacturers.
Available in quad flat no lead 32 (QFN32) packages, engineering samples will be available in 2Q 2008 to lead customers. Volume ramp-up is planned for 4Q 2008.
Source: STMicroelectronics (ST).