Freescale 8 b MCU Family Targets Automotive, Industrial Applications
November 23, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS
Freescale Semiconductor introduced the S08D family of 8 b microcontrollers (MCUs) that integrate a controller area network (CAN) interface, electronically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) and on-chip emulation/debug tools.
The embedded CAN interface provides a connectivity tool for many automotive and industrial control applications. In the automotive market, the S08D family targets body, chassis, safety and powertrain control.
Industrial control applications include factory and building automation, security systems, medical monitoring equipment and aircraft and aerospace electronics.
Embedded EEPROM enables data to be written and erased and eliminates the need for external serial EEPROM. Integrated development tools with on-chip debug enable designers to debug in real time, resulting in fast time to market, according to Freescale.
Each of these integrated capabilities is available across the automotive temperature range of -40 degrees Celsius to 125 degrees Celsius.
"As market demand for embedded intelligence and connectivity increases and as system cost and power budgets continue to shrink, it's essential to help customers get the utmost performance and value from their 8 b designs," said Aiden Mitchell, consumer and industrial MCU product manager for the Freescale microcontroller solutions group.
"By integrating essential connectivity and memory capabilities within a single-chip architecture, Freescale's next-generation S08D family is designed to enhance system performance while reducing board space, power consumption, development time and system cost," Mitchell said.
Tony Massimini, chief of technology, Semico Research, said, "Freescale's S08D family redefines 8 b microcontroller integration and performance for the automotive and industrial control markets. By offering a high degree of scalability within a family of pin and peripheral-compatible devices, Freescale is giving embedded designers options for greater flexibility to design high-performance systems within increasingly tight system cost and power budgets."
The S08D family currently features the following three product lines:
- 9S08DZ, offering both integrated CAN and EEPROM.
- 9S08DN, featuring embedded EEPROM without the CAN module, for use in non-networked and/or local interconnect network (LIN)-based applications and industrial applications that require memory flexibility.
- 9S08DV, featuring integrated CAN connectivity without EEPROM.
According to Freescale, the three S08D product lines give developers the scalability, compatibility and design freedom to choose the optimal device for their specific application and system requirements.
Pin compatibility across the three product lines and package scalability eliminate the need to add input/output (I/O) expanders. A system engineer can migrate from one product line up to another to expand system-level capabilities or migrate down to minimize costs.
Additionally, the S08D family offers an upward migration path from Freescale's 68HC05 and 68HC08 architectures for applications requiring enhanced peripherals and higher performance at lower costs, Freescale said.
The S08D family is manufactured on the Freescale 0.25 micron process technology and provides 40 MHz core speed and 20 MHz bus speed.
By keeping power consumption low, the S08D family allows automotive design engineers to continue increasing vehicle electronics content within existing 12 volt (V) battery capacities, Freescale said. S08D devices can be used for power-sensitive automotive applications, such as sunroof and seat control, steering and chassis systems.
The S08D family is supported by a set of software development tools, such as CodeWarrior development studio, background debug mode (BDM), Multilink and Cyclone Pro and hardware development tools, including evaluation boards, demonstration boards and programming adapters.
Source: Freescale Semiconductor Inc.