Download Flash Microcontrollers Debut

For Embargo: Sept. 4, 2001
Editorial Contact:
Eric Sells
(480) 792-7478
For Literature/Inquiries:
Web: www.microchip.com
Literature: (480) 792-7668
UNIQUE PROCESS TECHNOLOGY
ELIMINATES TRADITIONAL FLASH MCU DESIGN BARRIERS;
OPENS MANY NEW MARKETS, APPLICATIONS
8-bit Flash MCU Pricing Drops Below OTP
CHANDLER, Ariz., Sept. 4, 2001 [NASDAQ: MCHP] — Microchip Technology Inc. has
implemented a unique manufacturing technology that eliminates the traditional industry design
barriers associated with Flash microcontrollers, including price premiums, endurance reliability
and long programming times. This next-generation Flash process technology enables industryleading Flash device performance, as well as pricing equal to and in some cases lower than OTP
microcontrollers. These technology innovations position Microchip’s growing PICmicro® Flash
solutions for many new high-volume, cost-sensitive markets and applications.
Flash Microcontrollers Debut
To accommodate the growing demand for Flash, Microchip is announcing today 14 new
high performance Flash microcontrollers based on this process technology at the Embedded
Systems Conference-Boston (Booth #611), significantly expanding the Company’s current Flash
product portfolio to offer a full range of 8- to 84-pin solutions. Another 16 devices are planned for
introduction in the next six months, reflecting a significant R&D investment made by the
Company to meet expected, growing market demand.
Flash Technology Leadership: Lower Cost, Higher Reliability
Microchip’s new leading-edge Flash process technology features a patented PMOS
Electrically Erasable Cell (PEEC) which provides best-in-class ERASE/WRITE endurance,
retention, and disturb reliability for both program and on-chip data memory. The PEEC cell
resulted from a three-year development project to create a cell that specifically targets the
demanding system environments of microcontroller embedded control applications.
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ADD ONE – NEW FLASH MCU PROCESS TECHNOLOGY
“Microchip made OTP microcontrollers cost effective for embedded designers,” said Steve
Sanghi, president and CEO of Microchip. “We’re taking that same philosophy and technical
expertise to make Flash microcontrollers cost effective for mainstream embedded applications.
We see customers migrating their designs to our Flash microcontrollers, which are pin compatible
with our OTP solutions. Today, we offer broad OTP and Flash product portfolios at similar
pricing, allowing engineers to choose the most appropriate memory solution for their application.”
Historically, the reliable cell of choice was an EEPROM cell, which cost more to produce
because of the larger cell/array sizes. Therefore, most users were forced to settle for a
compromised low reliability product that utilized very small Flash cells that were originally
developed for cost sensitive non-microcontroller products. Today, Microchip’s PEEC cell is three
times smaller than the previous generation EEPROM cells, providing significant cost reduction
advantages. The cell offers improved reliability over the previous generation EEPROMs and
significantly better reliability over the industry alternative Flash cells.
The PEEC cell utilizes a size-reduced merged cell with a Fowler Nordheim tunneling
region instead of a defined tunnel dielectric window to improve manufacturability, repeatability,
and reliability across a –40C to 125C temperature range and 2.0V to 5.5V Vdd operations.
Programming time has been reduced as a 1-Megabit array can be fully erased and programmed in
less than 2 seconds. An individual word can be erased and programmed in less than 3
milliseconds.
Reliability characterization data over multiple lots supports in excess of 5 million
ERASE/WRITE cycles and more than 40 years of data retention. This high level of reliability
characterization and manufacturability will enable the microcontroller system designer to achieve
more than 1,000,000 data memory ERASE/WRITE cycles and more than 100,000 program
memory ERASE/WRITE cycles.
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ADD TWO – NEW FLASH MCU PROCESS TECHNOLOGY
The architecture of this cell also allows for the Vdd range to be expanded down to 2.0V.
The PEEC cell has superior low-voltage high-speed performance. A 3V product can now operate
up to 20MHz. The wide 2.0V to 5.5V VDD range and low current is achieved by utilizing the
next-generation Flash process technology which does not require any 5V overhead such as an onchip regulator or voltage charge pump. The on-chip ERASE/WRITE charge pump allows for full
ERASE/WRITE/READ operations at only 2.0V without an external Vpp voltage. The I/O
voltages utilized in this technology are true 5.5V capable (vs a 5.5V tolerant I/O design as required
when designing with <0.35u technology)
Design Barriers for Flash MCUs
Once a niche-oriented technology for prototyping, Flash microcontrollers gained
popularity in applications with long lives, where remote field upgrades could be made without
expensive service calls. These were typically high-ticket items, such as automobiles, which could
justify the 25%+ price premium over other microcontrollers. Because of the substantially longer
programming cycle for Flash versus OTP, high volume applications were not feasible without
installing additional manufacturing lines. These traditional industry design barriers have been
eliminated thanks to Microchip’s innovative Flash process technology.
Mainstream Flash Applications
Microchip estimates the worldwide 8-bit Flash microcontroller market at $600 million in
2000, jumping to $1.5 billion by 2003 as more and more mainstream applications migrate to Flash
memory. The current demand for Flash is being fueled by the need for remote field upgrades and
Internet connectivity, especially in applications such as automotive subsystems, networked home
appliances, home medical appliances, remote controls, parking meters and vending machines.
Today’s announcement opens the door for many high-volume cost-sensitive applications to
incorporate the advantages of reprogrammability where Flash was historically not feasible. These
applications include telecommunication line cards, personal identification systems and access
control systems.
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ADD THREE – NEW FLASH MCU PROCESS TECHNOLOGY
Expanding Flash MCU Portfolio
Microchip’s new Flash microcontroller families introduced in separate news
announcements today are:

PIC18FXX8: These four 28- and 40-lead self-programmable Flash memory devices feature
an intelligent CAN 2.0B active interface and an abundant peripheral set. The 28-lead package
is the smallest and most powerful CAN solution in the market today.

PIC18FXX2: These powerful PICmicro Flash devices offer 10 MIPS at 10 MHz performance
and an operating range of 2.0-5.0v. The devices feature up to 32K bytes of self-programmable
Flash memory, 1.5K bytes of user SRAM and 256 bytes of data EEPROM. Possessing a 10-bit
analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with up to 8 input channels, the devices also provide a C
compiler-friendly development environment

PIC16F85/86: These devices expand Microchip’s popular PIC16F8X family with increased
program and data memory, four channels of 8-bit analog-to-digital converters and two analog
comparators.

PIC16F87XA: Microchip updates the popular PIC16F87X family with two analog
comparators on its advanced enhanced Flash technology, enabling further cost reductions for
high volume embedded control applications.
Development System Support
Microchip’s MPLAB® In Circuit Debugger (ICD) supports these high performance Flash
solutions with a complete hardware development system, including a demo board. The ICD
provides a powerful, affordable run-time development tool and starts as low as $99. Microchip’s
MPLAB-IDE editor, assembler, linker, simulator, project manager and source level symbolic
debug is also included.
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ADD FOUR – NEW FLASH MCU PROCESS TECHNOLOGY
For More Information
For more information, contact Microchip via the literature line at (480) 792-7668, the
website at www.microchip.com, or through any Microchip sales representative or authorized
worldwide distributor.
Microchip Technology Inc. manufactures the popular PICmicro® field-programmable
RISC microcontrollers, which serve 8- and 16-bit embedded control applications, and a broad
spectrum of high-performance linear and mixed-signal, power management and thermal
management devices. The Company also offers complementary microperipheral products
including interface devices; microID RFID devices; serial EEPROMs; and the patented
KEELOQ® security devices. This synergistic product portfolio targets thousands of applications
and a growing demand for high-performance designs in the automotive, communications,
computing, consumer and industrial control markets. The Company's quality systems are ISO
9001 (1994 version) and QS9000 (1998 version) certified. Microchip is headquartered in
Chandler, Arizona with design facilities in Mountain View, California and Bangalore, India;
semiconductor fabrication facilities in Tempe and Chandler, Arizona and Puyallup, Washington;
and assembly and test operations near Bangkok, Thailand. Microchip employs approximately
2,950 people worldwide and has sales offices throughout Asia, Europe, Japan and the Americas.
More information on the Company can be found at www.microchip.com.
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Note: The Microchip name and logo, PIC, PICmicro, MPLAB and KEELOQ are registered trademarks of Microchip Technology
Inc. in the USA and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.