Infineon Launches New Real-Time Signal Controller Family for Industrial Applications with DSP Functionality, Powerful Peripherals and Extensive Flash Memory

Neubiberg, Germany – November 8, 2007 – Infineon Technologies AG (FSE/NYSE: IFX) today introduced a new family of 16-bit real-time signal controllers that feature fast interrupt response time and context switching specifically targeting industrial drives applications. The new XE166 family of Real-Time Signal Controllers (RTSC) can control up to four individual motors simultaneously.

The XE166 family is based on the C166S V2 core. The high-performance RTSC products integrate a microcontroller (MCU) that combines the strengths of a 16-bit C166 core for the peripheral control with the computing power of a digital signal processor (DSP). Operating at 80 MHz and one cycle per instruction, all XE166 devices deliver 80 MIPS, which is twice the performance of its XC166 predecessor. Also, with a maximum of 768 kilobytes (KB), the XE166 flash capacity is three times more than the XC166. The software developed for existing C166 and XC166 controllers can be easily reused with this new family.

“One of Infineon’s MCU strengths is real-time performance. The Infineon XE166 is a powerful single-chip ideal for embedded industrial motor drive applications, combining a MCU’s real-time capability and ease-of-use with the DSP’s mathematical performance and data throughput in one real-time core,” said Jochen Hanebeck, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Microcontrollers business unit at Infineon Technologies. “Embedded designers can now enjoy the benefits of more performance, flash and better peripherals for their designs than they experienced with Infineon’s previous C166 and XC166 families.”

The XE166 family integrates an embedded voltage regulator, various clock sources, brown-out detection and watchdog.

The peripheral set includes up to four capture compare units to drive an electrical motor using either sinusoidal or space vector modulation algorithms. The XE166 products include two synchronizable analog-to-digital converters with 24-channels, 10-bit resolution and a conversion time of less than 1.2 microseconds. It also includes a wide range of interface options, such as a MultiCAN interface handling up to five CAN nodes and up to 128 message objects simultaneously. There is also a new level of flexibility which features up to six Universal Serial Interface channels to link to external peripherals via a UART, LIN, SPI, I2C or IIS interface.

To further improve safe application operations, Infineon has also implemented a very effective error-correction coding (ECC) technology which finds and corrects single-bit errors and detects double-bit errors.

The XE166 product portfolio will include 28 products. The derivatives will vary in the embedded flash memory size (192 kBytes, 384 kBytes, 576 kBytes and 768 kBytes), operating frequency (66 MHz / 80 MHz), scalable peripheral sets and green (lead-free) Low-Quad Flat Pack (LQFP) package options (LQFP-100 / -144).

Availability and Pricing

Today, Infineon introduces the first two series of the XE166 family: the XE164 series and the XE167 series. Samples are available now. Sample pricing varies according to product specification. For instance, the XE164G-24F66L with 66 MHz frequency, 192 kBytes of embedded flash memory, up to 24 kBytes of RAM, and an industrial temperature range of -40°C to +85°C is priced at approximately Euros 4.90 (about $6.70 USD) per piece in quantities of 20,000.

With future extensions from 64- to 176-pins, the XE166 family provides a scalable package range from lower cost versions to higher performance devices.

Excellent Design-In Support: Free-of-Charge Development Tool License

The XE166 family is supported by the full suite of development tools, including evaluation boards, debuggers, compilers and documentation. Also, Altium in cooperation with Infineon is offering a one year license-free Tasking XE166 Compiler Tool Chain.This special release of Altium's Tasking C166 Compiler Toolset includes powerful tool feature sets.

This special release of Altium's Tasking C166 Compiler Toolset includes powerful tool feature sets.

The integrated development environment eases the way to the CrossView Pro source level debugger that simplifies the interfacing of any XE166 EasyKit evaluation board. Pre-installed ready-to-run examples, the step-by-step guideline, and further advanced tools, such as automatically generated start-up code can help a designer get started in a very productive way.

“The free-of-charge one-year license for the XE166 compiler suite provides all tools needed to develop an XE166 application from start to finish. The user can upgrade to a full and unlimited release of the classic Tasking C166 Software Development Toolset or the new Tasking VX-toolset for C166, which puts the performance of the XE166 beyond the level of traditional 16-bit microcontrollers,” said Harm-Andre Verhoef, Product Manager for Tasking development tools at Altium.

Further information

For further information on the XE166 family, and to register for the free-of-charge toolchain, please see www.infineon.com/XE166  

Infineon is demonstrating the new XE166 family at Booth #531 in Hall 1 at the SPS/IPC/DRIVES Trade Show (Nuremberg, Germany, November 27-29).

Infineon Technologies AG, Neubiberg, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions addressing three central challenges to modern society: energy efficiency, communications and security. In fiscal year 2006 (ending September), the company achieved sales of Euro 7.9 billion (including Qimonda sales of Euro 3.8 billion) with approximately 42,000 employees worldwide (including approximately 12,000 Qimonda employees). With a global presence, Infineon operates through its subsidiaries in the US from Milpitas, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore, and in Japan from Tokyo. Infineon is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX).