NXP Semiconductors unveils industry’s first ARM7 microcontrollers with dual high-speed buses

NXP LPC2300 and LPC2400 feature two AHB buses enabling simultaneous operation of Ethernet, USB, CAN, SDRAM and other peripherals

NXP Semiconductors, the newly independent semiconductor company founded by Philips, today announcedthe industry's first ARM7-based microcontroller (MCU) series with dual high-speed buses forsimultaneous communications operations. The NXP LPC2300 and LPC2400 are the only ARM7 MCUs with twoARM high-speed buses (AHB) enabling simultaneous operation of high-bandwidth peripherals such asEthernet, USB On-The-Go (OTG), USB Host, CAN, SDRAM and on-chip Flash. The NXP LPC2400 is also theonly ARM7 MCU with two-port USB Host capability permitting new advances for multiple communicationsapplications.

"The explosive growth of Ethernet in the industrial networking and infotainment markets hascreated tremendous demand for high-performance 32-bit MCUs with Ethernet and other high-bandwidthcommunications peripherals," said Geoff Lees, general manager, microcontroller product line,NXP Semiconductors. "NXP is the first to fulfill this need with the only ARM7-basedmicrocontroller series that can perform multiple high-speed communications operations simultaneously.The NXP LPC2300 and LPC2400 will allow designers more freedom for innovation in industrial networkingenvironments."

The dual AHB buses and three independent direct memory access engines allow multiple high-bandwidthperipherals to operate at the same time without overwhelming the bus and improve the worst case byover 50 percent. This makes the NXP LPC2300 and LPC2400 ideal for a wide range of high-performancecommunications applications such as industrial networking, infotainment, consumer and medical devices,and point-of-sale equipment. The NXP LPC2300 and LPC2400 are also the first ARM7 MCUs with a real-timeclock (RTC) with 2KB of battery back-up SRAM, which allows the RTC to continue running even when thechip's power is shut down.

The large array of peripherals available on both the NXP LPC2300 and LPC2400 include two AHB buses,Ethernet, two CAN controllers, four UARTs, SPI, SSP, three I˛C buses, I2S, RTC, ADC/DAC and SD/MMCCard interface. The NXP LPC2400 also includes USB OTG integrated with two-port host capability, andexternal interfaces to SDRAM and NOR Flash. These two microcontrollers further strengthen NXP'scomprehensive portfolio of best-in-class ARM-based microcontrollers, making it the most comprehensivecollection in the industry.

Availability

The NXP LPC2300 microcontroller is available immediately. The NXP LPC2400 microcontroller will beavailable in November 2006. The LPC2300 will be shown at the ARM Developers' Conference in SantaClara, Calif., October 3 - 5, 2006, at Booth #612.

More information about the NXP LPC2300 and LPC2400 can be found at:www.nxp.com/microcontrollers.

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