News and New Products

Hybrid controllers extend performance and integration

By Robert Cravotta -- EDN, 12/11/2003

The new 56F8300 series hybrid controllers from Motorola extend the performance and integration options for 16-bit automotive and industrial applications. The company based the six new devices on the 56800/56800E hybrid core. They integrate a 60-MHz controller and signal-processing core with 32- to 256-kbyte flash program memory with a flash security feature, a FlexCAN (controller-area-network) module, and as many as 76 general-purpose I/O ports. The third-generation flash on these devices operates as fast as 60 MIPS without using acceleration technology. The integrated controller-level, safety-focused functions include a temperature sensor, multiple fault conditions, built-in write-protection registers, and on-chip clock synthesis that allows graceful shutdown to prevent system damage.

The first six devices in the 56F8300 family are currently available for sampling for protyping with pricing ranging from $8.13 (10,000) for the 32-kbyte flash MC56F8322 to $15.93 (10,000) for the 256-kbyte flash MC56F8357 devices. The devices are available for extended-temperature ranges of –40 to +125°C. The MC56F8300DSK demonstration board is available for $79 and includes the Metrowerks (www.metrowerks.com) CodeWarrior Development Studio for 56800 with the Processor Expert autocode generator.

Motorola, www.motorola.com.