Dallas Semiconductor Unveils Industry's Highest MIPS/mA, 16-Bit, RISC Microcontroller
SUNNYVALE, CA-November 2, 2004-Dallas Semiconductor (NASDAQ: MXIM) introduces the MAXQ™ microcontroller product line, beginning with the new MAXQ2000 RISC microcontroller that achieves 3.6 normalized MIPS/mA performance. The new MAXQ2000 includes 64kB flash memory, 2kB SRAM, a watchdog timer, two serial ports, an SPI™ master/slave port, three timers, a 16x16 hardware multiplier, 32-bit binary clock and a 132-segment LCD controller. With 4 common and 36 segment drivers, the LCD controller can support a wide variety of configurations. Each segment pin can also be configured as general-purpose I/O, many of which support interrupt operation.
"The first member of the new MAXQ microcontroller family, the MAXQ2000, is designed for industrial and medical applications that require an LCD controller. Future members of the family will integrate high-performance analog front ends," said Maxim's Clayton Ware, Microcontroller Business Manager. Mr. Ware continued, "With performance near 20MIPS, the MAXQ2000 is capable of performing very complex control with low-end DSP capabilities using the hardware multiplier and 48-bit accumulator."
New Architecture
The MAXQ2000 uses a 16-bit instruction set, ALU, and data path. based on a transfer-triggered architecture, each instruction boils down to a simple "move" instruction, enabling the MAXQ to perform almost all instructions in a single clock cycle. Compared to competitive 16-bit RISC microcontrollers, the MAXQ achieves up to 2.5 times better performance at equal clock rates. Mr. Ware concluded, "Achieving up to 3.6 million instructions per second per mA (3.6MIPS/mA), the MAXQ2000 outperforms the competition. Other microcontrollers advertise high performance, but when machine cycles per instruction are factored in, their real-world performance decreases significantly."
Note: A separate release discusses the innovations of the company's new RISC microcontroller architecture in greater detail. Of particular emphasis is the architecture's ability to control and reduce noise, thus enabling direct integration of the microcontroller with complex analog front ends.
Development Support
An evaluation kit is available for purchase. The kit seamlessly integrates with an integrated development environment and includes a JTAG interface board for communication with a PC, and an LCD daughter board. The IDE includes a debugger, assembler/linker, a time-limited version of the IAR C-compiler, and a simulator. The MAXIM website offers many application notes and software examples to use with the evaluation kit (www.maxim-ic.com/MAXQ).
The MAXQ2000 is packaged in a 68-pin QFN, and is available directly from Maxim or through authorized distributors. Prices start at $2.95 (10,000-up, FOB USA).
MAXQ is a trademark of Maxim Integrated Products, Inc.
SPI is a trademark of Motorola, Inc.
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