Infineon Launches New 32-bit Microcontroller Family for High-Performance and Cost-Effective Industrial Control Applications

Dec 14, 2005 | Market News

Munich, Germany - December 15, 2005 - Infineon Technologies AG (FSE/NYSE: IFX) enables highly efficient motor control concepts increasing the energy efficiency and performance of industrial drives. Once in broad use, electronically controlled drives have the potential to save up to 20 percent of today’s electrical energy consumed worldwide.
 
Infineon today announced sample availability of the first two members in the new TC116x series of 32-bit microcontrollers based on its TriCore™ architecture. In addition to a high-performance 66MHz CPU, the new TC1161 and TC1162 microcontrollers integrate 1MByte of embedded Flash memory and a comprehensive set of peripherals in a low-cost package.  Compared to conventional solutions with separate microcontroller, DSP and PWM ASIC, Infineon’s highly integrated microcontrollers can reduce system level costs by up to 40 percent. Besides the lower system level costs, the TC116x microcontrollers also contribute to reduced board space, system size and firmware complexity by offering a unified software environment.
 
The TC1161 and TC1162 address demanding industrial applications such as high-performance AC and DC drives or servo-drives for the precise control of electric motors in machines and manufacturing processes , generic industrial control such as factory automation equipment and robotics.
 
“It is Infineon’s goal to provide microcontroller solutions with scaleable performance at competitive costs to meet the specific industrial system requirements supporting advanced real-time control applications. Industrial applications are a strategic focus area for Infineon where we strive to offer most competitive system solutions ranging from sensors to microcontrollers and power.” said Dr. Christopher Hegarty, Vice President and General Manager Microcontroller Business Unit at Infineon. “Using the TC116x microcontrollers in motor drive applications system costs can be reduced up to 40 percent, compared to solutions with separate processor, DSP and PWM chips.”
 
There is a high growth potential for electronic motor drives as worldwide still more than 80 percent (iSuppli Power Management Report, December 2004) of today’s small motors run without electronic control. In future, more and more motors will be electronically controlled to increase power efficiency and performance. The new TC116x microcontrollers enable the development of highly efficient motor drives with reduced power consumption. Adding electronic drives to motors can save up to 20 percent of all of the electrical energy consumed today, while in the same time increasing performance.
 
Further technical information of TC1161 and TC1162
 
The TC1161 and TC1162 are optimized for demanding embedded applications where real-time control, DSP performance and specific peripheral functions are needed. Typical applications are motor drives and industrial control. The rich peripheral set includes a flexible timer unit (GPTA) for PWM generation, fast multi-channel ADCs, MultiCAN module (TC1162 only), Asynchronous and Synchronous Serial Interfaces (ASC/SSC) and a Micro Link Interface (MLI) for interfacing to a second controller. The flexible GPTA concept enables scalable motor control solutions and an autonomous full coharent high-speed PWM generation with 0 to 100 percent duty cycle to achieve highly efficient drive operations. The dedicated peripherals together with the powerfull TriCore™ and 1MByte embedded Flash memory predestinate the TC1161/1162 microcontrollers as cost-effective 32-bit solutions in various real-time industrial control applications.
 

Availability

The new TC1161 and TC1162 operate at a 1.5V core supply voltage (3.3V I/O) and are available in a low-cost PG-LQFP-176 package for the industrial temperature range from -40° to +85°C. The unit price (MSRP) for 10,000 units is Euro 9.35 for the TC1161 respectively Euro 9.90 for the TC1662. The new 32-bit microcontrollers have on-chip debugging support for fast development and verification. Software development and debugging tools as well as real time operating systems are available from leading embedded system vendors.
 
Infineon plans to continuously expand the TC116x product family, introducing 4 further products in the first half of 2006. The additional members will offer extended memory capacity, higher CPU clock and new peripherals.
 
Further information on Infineon’s portfolio of microcontrollers is available at www.infineon.com/microcontroller

About Infineon

Infineon Technologies AG, Munich, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions for automotive, industrial and multimarket sectors, for applications in communication, as well as memory products. With a global presence, Infineon operates through its subsidiaries in the US from San Jose, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore and in Japan from Tokyo. In fiscal year 2005 (ending September), the company achieved sales of Euro 6.76 billion with about 36,400 employees worldwide. Infineon is listed on the DAX index of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX). Further information is available at www.infineon.com

Information Number

INFAIM200512.022