Toshiba launches 32-bit MCU for analog circuit control in industrial and appliance apps

SAN JOSE, USA: Toshiba America Electronic Components Inc. announced the availability of a new 32-bit microcontroller (MCU), the TMPM380.

The TMPM380 MCU was specifically designed for the digital control of high-current circuits commonly found in industrial or appliance applications. Powered by a 40 MHz ARM Cortex-M3 processor core, Toshiba's TMPM380 provides higher performance than the 8- and 16-bit MCUs typically used in industrial or appliance applications, yet at price points similar to the lower-performing alternatives.

The new TMPM380 delivers improved operating characteristics, including better energy efficiency and more precise control.

The higher performance provided by the TMPM380 MCU also can enable the addition of new features to an application. For example, speech synthesis could be added to an appliance's user interface so the appliance could provide voice confirmation of user commands and settings. The TMPM380 MCU offers a 5V operation, which delivers better immunity to system noise than a comparable 3V MCU and easier interfacing with other 5V components.

"With the TMPM380 MCU, we are bringing a higher level of digital processing to industrial and appliance applications at a lower price point," said Andrew Burt, vice president of the Imaging and Communications Marketing Group in the ASSP Business unit at TAEC.

"By implementing the TMPM380 MCU in their designs, engineers will be able to develop cookers, pumps, compressors, motors or any system controlled by inverters or discrete power devices with better operating characteristics or additional features without increasing system cost."

Toshiba's TMPM380 MCU uses a specialized pulse-width modulation (PWM) circuit, which can generate three-phase control for motor circuits or a 16-bit programmable pulse generator (PPG) control for circuits employing power semiconductors such as IGBTs (insulated gate bipolar transistors) or FETs (field-effect transistors).

The MCU has an on-board 12-bit analog/digital converter that can synchronize with the PWM unit to read back system state at critical times. The device also has several safety and fault tolerance features, including software support of the IED 60730B safety standard and oscillator frequency and low voltage detectors.

An added benefit of the TMPM380 is that it uses zero-wait state FLASH and SRAM that assures latency time does not vary in unpredictable ways. As a result, designers can develop applications that require deterministic timing. This ability is key in applications requiring analog processing, where precise control loop timing is critical.

In addition, the MCU's Cortex-M3 core offers fast interrupt response, especially important in applications where real-time operating systems need to quickly adapt to varying inputs, such as with appliances.

Engineering samples of the TMPM380 MCU are available now. Mass production is scheduled to begin in Q3 2010. The TMPM380 family pricing starts with the TMPM382FSFG (64K Flash / 8K SRAM) at $1.90 per unit in 10,000 unit quantities.