Freescale announces powerful and versatile 32-bit MCUs for automotive apps

electronica 2010, MUNICH, GERMANY: To meet the automotive industry’s ever-increasing need for processing performance and integration, Freescale Semiconductor announced its next-generation 32-bit MCUs designed specifically for automotive applications.

The new Qorivva microcontroller (MCU) families, based on Power Architecture technology, are built using a unique 55 nanometer (nm) non-volatile memory (NVM) process for improved power efficiency and cost effectiveness.

With more than 200 million 32-bit Power Architecture MCUs shipped to date, Freescale is a proven, trusted supplier of solutions for the automotive electronics market. Freescale Qorivva MCUs are built on Power Architecture cores configured to meet the rigorous demands of the automotive environment.

The new 55 nm Qorivva MCU families address key challenges for the automotive market, including the need for increased performance, new safety requirements and enhanced security features.

“Freescale Qorivva MCUs are built on the industry’s most powerful automotive architecture and offer exceptional scalability across hundreds of devices,” said Reza Kazerounian, senior vice president and general manager of Freescale’s Microcontroller Solutions Group. “Our new 55 nm Qorivva MCU product families range from simple, low-cost, single-core controllers up to the latest triple- and quad-core variants, providing increased performance, security and safety for the latest vehicle applications.”

Helping to enable a new generation of smarter, safer, more connected vehicles
Automakers are continually exploring new options to satisfy evolving consumer demands. Technology trends in the automotive industry include active vehicle safety (in addition to the traditional passive safety systems) and electrification of the powertrain.

The increasing complexity of new automotive electronic systems is leading to rapidly increasing requirements for MCU performance, making multicore processing a necessity for both safety and performance. Safety mandates around the world continue to increase, with many requiring fault-recognition systems and even fault tolerance, for braking, steering, powertrain and some of the latest advanced driver assistance systems.

At the same time, as complexity continues to grow, reducing power consumption is quickly becoming critical, as up to 100+ electronic control units require current to function within the vehicle. Now more than ever, Freescale is a technology partner and supplier the auto industry can turn to for innovative solutions that meet their performance, efficiency, reliability, quality and cost objectives.

In addition to improving the overall performance of its latest product families, Freescale has taken extra steps to help automakers build the safest cars on the road. MCUs with multiple cores help build redundancy into the system for the fault monitoring and distributed control required by safety-critical applications.

Freescale’s unique design process documents features and functions of the MCU so automotive manufacturers have all of the necessary, detailed information during the required safety certification processes.