ROHM / OKI Semiconductor Co-Develop a Dedicated Chipset for Intel® Atom™ Processor E6xx Series

Mr. Toshiki Takano, a director of ROHM Co., Ltd. and head of LSI development headquarters says, “This complete chipset marks the first major achievement combining ROHM’s analog/linear technologies with OKI Semiconductor’s low-power logic expertise. We plan on continuing to fill our lineup of chipset solutions for the Intel® Atom™ processors while strengthening our support for a wide variety of applications, from consumer devices such as digital AV to industrial equipment.”

“The Intel® Atom™ processor E6xx series are fully integrated System-on-a-Chip (SoC) products designed specifically for embedded applications and are unprecedented in that they utilize the open standard PCI Express as the processor-to-chipset interface. This unique feature provides our customers with the I/O flexibility needed for a broad range of embedded applications, including solutions such as in-vehicle infotainment systems and media phones,” says Mr. Ton Steenman, vice president of the Intel Architecture Group and general manager of the Low Power Embedded Products Division for Intel Corporation. “By providing dedicated PMIC and clock generator chips as well as application-specific input/output hubs (through OKI Semiconductor) to support Intel® Atom™ E6xx designs, ROHM Group products will help reduce design complexity and cost for embedded customers.”

ROHM’s PMIC supplies all of the voltage rails required not only for the Intel® Atom™ processor E6xx series and the Intel® Platform Controller Hub EG20T, but also for the DDR2 memory and BIOS-storage SPI Flash connected to the Intel® chip. Furthermore, it controls start-up and power-down sequencing that eliminates the need for an external microcontroller or a CPLD required in most conventional x86 processor designs.

ROHM’s CGIC is ideal for Intel® Atom™ processor E6xx series-based designs since it alone provides all of the clocks needed by the Intel® chip and the controller hub, as well as by commonly employed external devices such as SATA, USB, etc.

OKI Semiconductor has developed two kinds of application-specific input/output hubs, the ML7223(V) and ML7213. The former is intended for telecom terminal applications such as web-enabled media phones. It integrates a rich collection of industry-standard I/O such as USBs, SATA, SD-Host, UART as well as application-specific functions including an IPsec hardware accelerator and echo and noise cancellers for hands-free operation. The latter, ML7213, was developed primarily for in-vehicle infotainment applications. The built-in MediaLB®, SDVO converter and video input interface, along with the above-mentioned industry-standard I/O, reduce valuable board space while contributing to reduced bill of materials.

The complete LSI chipset, along with the key features of each, includes:

Power Management IC (PMIC)—ROHM BD9591MWV or BD9594MWV

* 20-channel system power supply (1-channel DC/DC controller + 4-channel DC/DC regulator + 8-channel LDO + 6-channel load switch + 1-channel VTT for DDR)
* Exclusive H3Reg™ technology ensures fast transient response
* Specialized power supply ON/OFF sequence controller eliminates the need for conventional complex power supply sequence design utilizing microcontrollers and PLDs, resulting in improved performance and greater space savings

Clock Generator IC (CGIC)—ROHM BU7335MWV

* Patented PLL technology ensures high-frequency accuracy
* Spread Spectrum (SS) technology utilized as an EMI countermeasure
* All required clocks are built in, including CPU, PCIe, SATA and USB
* Sequence control possible via ROHM BD9591MWV or BD9594MWV

Input/Output Hub (IOH) for IP media phones—OKI Semiconductor ML7223 or ML7223(V)

* Compatible with SATA and USB
* Gigabit EtherMAC and IPsec hardware accelerator
* Echo/noise cancellation function
* High-speed bus supports cascade connections of external FPGAs
* Common design facilitates application development

Input/Output Hub (IOH) for in-vehicle infotainment devices—OKI Semiconductor ML7213

* Compatible with video input, SDVO, USB and SATA
* MediaLB® interface included for support with MOST networks

*Intel® and Atom™ are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries.