Hidden M55 at Nuvoton and motor and power control at Infineon
30
Jan
2025
Nuvoton had plenty of surprises in store: a ghost Cortex-M55 used on a demo board but nowhere to be found and a Cortex-M23 based MCU, pin compatible with a 8051 family. In parallel, Infineon launched its motor control and power conversion families, the PSOC Control C3M and C3P based on the Cortex-M33.
Infineon announced the the PSOC™ Control C3 microcontrollers (MCUs) based on the Cortex-M33 and are designed for motor control and power conversion applications. Key technical features include:
- Clock Speed: Up to 180 MHz.
- Performance Enhancements: Includes hardware accelerators for improving control loop performance.
- Memory Options: Different configurations available for memory and performance, tailored for both entry-level and higher-end applications.
- Safety and Security: The MCUs are equipped with crypto accelerators, secure key storage, and other safety features.
- Software Support: The devices are supported by the ModusToolbox™ software, which aids in design and evaluation.
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PSOC™ Control C3M |
PSOC™ Control C3P |
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Entry Line |
Main Line |
Entry Line |
Main Line |
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Application |
Motor Control |
Power Conversion |
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Core |
Arm® Cortex®- M33 with DSP and FPU |
Arm® Cortex®- M33 with DSP and FPU |
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Operating Frequency |
100MHz |
180MHz |
100MHz |
180MHz |
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Flash |
128KB / 256KB |
128KB / 256KB |
128KB / 256KB |
128KB / 256KB |
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ADC |
6 Msps |
12 Msps |
6 Msps |
12 Msps |
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Cordic Accelerator |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
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Hall sensor interface |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
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HRPWM |
No |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
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Part number naming convention |
PSC3M3 |
PSC3M5 |
PSC3P2 |
PSC3P5 |
Microchip added a few variants to existing parts.
No change this month.
The M55M1 machine learning processor is featured in the NuEzAI-M55M1 dev board, but we couldn’t find it on the Nuvoton website.
In parallel, Nuvoton launched the CM2003 series, a Cortex-M23 based MCU “Your excellent choice to upgrade from 8/16-bit to 32-bit” according to the website.
Who would have known you could upgrade directly from an 8051 to a Cortex-M23? The family is pin compatible with the CM1003 series, with a 1T 8051 core.
The CM2003 series runs up to 24 MHz and features 32 KB Flash Memory, 4 KB SRAM, 2.4V ~ 5.5V operating voltage, and -40°C ~ +105°C operating temperature.
The CM2003 peripheral include 4 sets of 32-bit Timers, Watchdog Timers, 3-channel enhanced input capture, up to 2 sets of UART, 1 set of I2C and 1 set of Universal Serial Control Interface (USCI) that can be set as UART/SPI/I²C flexibly. It also provides analog peripherals including 8 single-end analog input channels of 500 ksps 12-bit ADC and 6-channel 16-bit PWM.
Parts are in production, but no pricing has been shared.
NXP added a few i.MX RT104x this month. This is a crossover MCU with a Cortex-M7 running at 600MHz with extended temperature range from -40 to +125C.
Renesas had an early spring clean-up with a wide NRND sweep across all its RXv1-based MCUs with over 1,200 parts affected. No family was spared:
RX210, RX21A, RX621, RX220, RX62G, RX62N, RX62T, RX630, RX631, RX634, RX63N, RX63T but also Synergy S3A1 and S3A7.
No significant changes.
No significant change.
TI sampled a few parts with the XMSM0L1117xxx as it continues to build its low cost Cortex-M0+ portfolio.
Cortex-M55 for ST at last
05
Jan
2025
We had two darlings to close 2024 with ST showing the much anticipated STM32N6, a souped up Cortex-M55 with bells and whistles around AI and video while TI is pushing down the price boundaries, with a 82-cents part embedding 512 kB of Flash. We expect to see more Cortex-M55 and M85 in 2025 with of course a sprinkle of AI accelerators.
After much wait, the STM32N6 is finally there. Based on the Cortex®-M55 running at 800 MHz, it is the first CPU to introduce Arm Helium vector processing technology, bringing DSP processing capability to a standard CPU.
The STM32N6 is the first STM32 MCU to embed the ST Neural-ART accelerator™, an in-house developed neural processing unit (NPU) engineered for power-efficient edge AI applications. Clocked at 1 GHz and providing up to 600 GOPS, it enables real-time neural network inference for computer vision and audio applications.
A dedicated computer vision pipeline with a MIPI CSI-2 interface and image signal processing (ISP) ensures compatibility with a wide range of cameras. The STM32N6 also features an H264 hardware encoder and the NeoChrom™ Accelerator for graphics, making it suitable for feature-rich products.
It offers 4.2 Mbytes of contiguous embedded RAM, ideal for neural networks or graphics applications, complemented by high-speed external memory interfaces (hexa-SPI, OCTOSPI, FMC).
The STM32N6 offers advanced security features, meeting the latest standards with target SESIP level 3 and PSA level 3 certifications.
Available in six different packages ranging from 169 to 264 pins and from 0.4 mm to 0.8 mm pitch, it supports up to 125°C ambient temperature, making it suitable for harsh environments.
Prices range from $8.64 to $10.73/10k.
TI released 11 parts, with 8 from the MSPM0 series. Interestingly, TI is moving up the Flash size dimension with the new samples having as much as 512kB. This is quite a bit for a sub-dollar/1k part and will certainly hurt ST whose lowest cost 512kB Flash part is at $1.69/10k (STM32G0B0KET6).
No significant changes this month.
No change this month.
No change this month.
No change this month.
No change this month.
No change this month.
No significant changes.
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