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NXP takes ARM’s Cortex-M3 for 2008 MCU products

Pin-compatibility promised with ARM7/9-based chip families

Later in 2008, NXP will introduce several new microcontroller series based on the ARM Cortex-M3 processor, for designers working in a range of application areas including consumer, industrial, medical and automotive systems. The controllers will include a Memory Accelerator Module (MAM) for embedded high-speed Flash memory, as well as support for Ethernet and other communications peripherals such as USB and CAN.
NXP – from the time the company was part of Philips – was an early adopter of the ARM architecture for microcontrollers, and current offerings include the LPC2000 and LPC3000 series. Geoff Lees, vice president, of the company’s microcontroller product line, says that the low-power core, “which combines high system performance with significantly reduced memory use, will enable NXP to continue our innovation in embedded Flash.” NXP microcontroller families based on the Cortex-M3 processor will be pin-compatible with, and offered in addition to, its ARM7 and ARM9 family-based microcontrollers. Tool support will, as with the existing ranges, will be from third-party suppliers of ARM development software such as Keil, Embedded Artists, and many others.
NXP’s announcement states that it has expanded its ARM licence agreement with the addition of the Cortex-M3, “as well as other ARM technology.” This covers all ARM Cortex family processors, including the A9 MPCore multicore processor; the Mali family of graphics processing units (GPUs); CoreSight on-chip debug and trace technology; and ARM physical IP for the development of future solutions with minimised power consumption.