8-bit microcontrollers from SST

1st July 2008

ES Admin

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SST (Silicon Storage Technology) has announced a new addition to its FlashFlex family of 8-bit microcontrollers (MCUs), the SST89C58RC. The new device is the industry’s first 8051-based MCU to feature two system management buses (SMBus), each supporting up to 400 Kbit per second data throughput, in a tiny 6mm x 6mm QFN package. The SST89C58RC supports operating voltages from 2.7V to 5.5V for implementation in applications with a variety of power supply requirements. Its dual SMBus feature, small form factor and support for a wide range of operating voltages make the SST89C58RC MCU an ideal solution for numerous applications, including HDMI, HDTVs, A/V receivers, home appliances, industrial instruments, notebook PCs, DVD players, Blu-ray players, RF modules and security applications such as fingerprint identification.

“Silicon Image appreciates the flexibility of the SST89C58RC MCU,” stated Mark Williams, systems engineering director, Silicon Image, Inc. “The dual hardware SMBus interfaces let the SST89C58RC act as an intermediary between a host processor and a complex multi-chip A/V subsystem. The MCU is ideal for bundled applications, shielding the host from low-level interrupts while providing it with a ‘virtual’ register interface for simplified control and status access.”

Glenn L. Marks, global design services technical leader at Silicon Image, also noted, “The new SST89C58RC MCU allowed us to successfully create our smallest reference board.”

“The MCU market is very competitive, and to be successful semiconductor vendors must offer customers devices with the right blend of features, performance and ease of implementation,” said Paul Lui, senior vice president, Memory and Special Products Business Unit, SST. “With its support for two SMBus interfaces in hardware and a tiny 6mm x 6mm package, the SST89C58RC addresses two important trends in mobile devices: minimizing board space and increasing functionality. We feel the SST89C58RC is a unique offering in the 8-bit 8051 MCU market that will enable customers to design new products quickly and efficiently.”

The SST89C58RC is the latest member of the FlashFlex family of 8-bit microcontroller products with SST patented and proprietary SuperFlash nonvolatile flash memory cells. SuperFlash memory uses a split-gate cell design and a thick-oxide tunneling injector to offer significant cost and reliability benefits to customers. All devices in the FlashFlex family use the 8051 instruction set and are pin-for-pin compatible with standard 8051 microcontroller devices. In addition, all devices in the FlashFlex family feature In-System Programming (ISP) and In-Application Programming (IAP) to allow for maximum design flexibility by enabling the user to update the flash device in the field or in an application. Both IAP and ISP lower cost and improve time-to-market for manufacturers, while bringing enhanced user experiences and convenience to consumers. These re-programming features also have a significant role in enabling increased functionality, such as remote diagnostics and product monitoring, in network- or Internet-enabled devices. The SST89C58RC comes with 1 KByte of on-chip RAM and up to 34 KBytes of embedded SuperFlash memory.