NEC Electronics Extends Its 8-bit All Flash Microcontroller Lineup With Compact 10-pin Models and Cost-Efficient Digital Only Models

Ten New Models, Including Models Without A/D Converters

KAWASAKI, Japan, July 13, 2006, NEC Electronics today announced that it has extended its comprehensive 78K0S/Kx1+ all-flash 8-bit microcontroller (MCU) series with the addition of 10 new products, including 3 low-pin-count MCUs in compact packages and 7 low-cost MCUs without A/D converters. The wider selection will help slash costs for consumer electronics products a wide range of other MCU applications.
The 10 new products include (1) Three compact 78K0S/KU1+ MCUs, all in 10-pin 4.4mm x 3.72mm packages, and all featuring on-chip flash memory ranging from 4 KB (kilobyte) down to 1KB; (2) Seven low-cost 78K0S/KB1+, 78K0S/KA1+, and 78K0S/KY1+ MCUs, all without A/D converter functions and all featuring on-chip flash memory ranging from 8KB down to 1KB. Pin counts range from 16 to 30. The 78K0 series uses SuperFlash® technology by Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.
With the addition of these new products, the NEC Electronics lineup of all-flash MCU solutions now includes 189 products, with memory capacities ranging from 640KB down to 1KB and pin counts ranging from 144 down to 10. This provides seamless coverage of system requirements for every type of MCU application.
The new 78K0S/KU1+ MCUs feature compact, lightweight on-chip flash modules, allowing system designers to reduce on-board footprints by about 30% compared to current models. This will help reduce the size, weight, and cost of final products. The new 78K0S/KB1+, 78K0S/KA1+, and 78K0S/KY1+ MCUs are provided without A/D converter functions, allowing designers to hold costs down by selecting only the functions they actually need. This makes it easier for manufacturers to develop cost-sensitive products such as vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, microwave ovens, electric tools, pumps, and other products consisting primarily of basic components such as switches, LEDs, heaters, and motors.
The new MCUs can also be used to replace dedicated switches by low-cost semiconductor switching functions, for size and weight savings in switching control and data transfer mechanisms, plus finer grained On/Off control, and higher reliability.
With the addition of the 10 new products, NEC Electronics expects total sales of the 78K series of 16-bit and 8-bit MCUs to reach 100 billion yen in 2009.

The principle features of the new products are as follows.

(1) 78K0S/KU1+
A review of the circuit architecture and elimination of inefficiencies allowed the three 78K0S/KU1+ configurations to be delivered in the industry’s smallest package, measuring only 4.4mm x 3.72mm with 10 pins, for space savings of approximately 30% compared to the current 16-pin packages. The amount of on-chip memory is selectable from 4KB, 2KB, and 1KB, and all packages have 10 pins.

(2) 78K0S/KB1+, 78K0S/KA1+, and 78K0S/KY1+
The 30-pin 78K0S/KB1+ will be available with 8K or 4K of memory, the 20-pin 78K0S/KA1+ with 4K or 2K of memory, and the 16-pin 78K0S/KB1+ with 4KB, 2KB, or 1KB of memory. All of these configurations omit the A/D converter, making them economical choices for applications where there is no need to convert analog data (such as temperature or weight data obtained from sensors) into digital data for processing by the MCU.
These MCUs offer significant cost savings for low-cost products that require only On/Off control services, such as vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, microwave ovens, coffee makers, electric tools, pumps, smoke detectors and other products consisting of basic components such as switches, LEDs, heaters, and motors.

All 10 of these products are also general-purpose MCUs with programmable flash memory on-chip. This gives designers the ability to write programs to internal memory and the flexibility to re-program the chips when specifications change, even after installation in the target system. The result is greater flexibility and shorter turnaround times for system development.
Flash-equipped 8-bit MCUs have won a high reputation in the market as parts that can reduce development time investments and deliver efficiencies in component procurement. Against the background of stiffer competition in the marketplace, system developers are being called upon to meet dramatically higher performance targets while also achieving shorter development times, more compact designs, and lower costs. This has created strong demand for components to support a more efficient development model. There is also strong demand for components to enable the efficient manufacture of products with superior cost/performance ratios, especially for Asian markets. The new additions to the NEC Electronics lineup will address the needs of MCU users with cost-efficient solutions for every application.
NEC Electronics provides an array of tools to support efficient development on all of its MCUs, including the new 8-bit products. These tools include the MINICUBE2 debugger/flash programmer combination, which makes it simple to develop and test MCU programs, and the Applilet device driver configurator, which supports the development of initialization programs for MCU peripheral functions. Together these tool provide an easy-to-use development environment to support the development of MCU software.

Samples of the compact MCUs are available now, with samples of all models to be available in July. Pricing varies by product. The 10-pin 78K0S/KU1+ with 1KB of memory will be priced at 130 yen per unit, while the 30-pin 78K0S/KB1+ with 8KB of memory will be priced at 230 yen per unit. Sample shipments of 78K0S/KU1+ models began today in Japan, while sampling of the 78K0S/KB1+, 78K0S/KA1+, and 78K0S/KY1+ models will begin in July. Volume production will begin in late June for the 78K0S/KU1+ models and in October for the 78K0S/KB1+, 78K0S/KA1+, and 78K0S/KY1+ models. Total monthly production for all 10 products is expected to reach 500,000 units by March, 2006.

Please see the attachment for the Specifications: www.necel.com/news/en/archive/0607/1302_1.html

About NEC Electronics

NEC Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723) specializes in semiconductor products encompassing advanced technology solutions for the high-end computing and broadband networking markets, system solutions for the mobile handsets, PC peripherals, automotive and digital consumer markets, and multi-market solutions for a wide range of customer applications. NEC Electronics Corporation has 25 subsidiaries worldwide including NEC Electronics America, Inc. (www.am.necel.com) and NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH (www.eu.necel.com). For additional information about NEC Electronics worldwide, visit www.necel.com.


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Information in the press releases, including product prices and specifications is current on the date of the press announcement, but is subject to change without prior notice.

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