Date: 08/05/2009

High performance cortex-M3 based microcontroller from NXP

NXP Semiconductor has launched a new series of Cortex-M3 based microcontroller called LPC1700 series with 512KB of flash memory. Cortex-M3 from ARM is a low-cost processor based on ARMv7-M architecture with fast response to interrupts.

NXP Semiconductor says, this microcontroller is the industry's highest performance ARM's Cortex -M3 based microcontroller. Based on the results provided by Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium (EEMBC) results, LPC1700 executes application code on average 35% faster than the other leading Cortex-M3 based MCUs in the market while running at the same clock speeds. The LPC1700 series is targeted to operate high-bandwidth communications peripherals such as Ethernet, USB On-The-Go/Host/Device and CAN simultaneously with no bottle-necks. The suitable applications, includes eMetering, lighting, industrial networking, alarm systems, white goods and motor control.

"These certified EEMBC results highlight the fact that the design of the microcontroller and its memory interfaces is equally as important as the processor core itself," said Markus Levy, president of EEMBC. "Furthermore, NXP's motivation to have its EEMBC scores certified adds an extra level of assurance that the scores are repeatable and are generated according to the rules established by the consortium".

The two new members LPC1768 and LPC1758 are immediately available in volumes in LQFP100 and LQFP80 packages respectively.


The NXP LPC1700 microcontroller series offers the following features:

1. Feature USB On-The-Go/Host/Device
2. Has quadrature encoder Interface and motor control pulse width modulator (PWM)
3. High bandwidth Ethernet, and two CAN interfaces
4. 12-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and 10-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC)
5. Fast-Mode Plus (1 Mb/s) I²C bus, 4 UARTs, 3 SPI/SSP buses and an I²S bus
6. Real-Time Clock operating at less than 1 uA
7. A Memory Protection Unit (MPU) to protect memory from corruption
8. Revision 2 Cortex-M3 core with enhanced power down capabilities, including Wake-up Interrupt controller
9. Pin compatibility with the NXP LPC2300 ARM7 microcontrollers series