Date: 06/03/2011

Infineon's New 16-bit controllers XE16xL and XE16xU for motor control apps

Infineon Technologies AG has added the new 16-bit MCUs XE16xL and XE16xU Real-Time Signal Controllers to its 16 bit MCU family. Infineon has designed these chips for electric drive systems for energy efficiency and mass market applications.

XE16xL and XE16xU real-time signal controllers are designed for cost-efficient motor control units (i.e. 3-phase BLDC motors) as a replacement for 8-bit MCUs or low-end DSPs. Typical applications suggested are solar inverters, low-end drives, intelligent sensors (factory and building automation), fitness equipment and home appliances, and low-cost blowers and fans.

"With more than 500 million units sold, the Infineon C166 device family sets the standard for 16-bit architectures with the highest aggregate volume share of all available 16-bit devices," said Peter Schaefer, Vice President and General Manager, Microcontrollers, Infineon Technologies. "The extension to the low-end with new derivates optimized for energy and cost efficient designs further increase the application spectrum of the highly scalable XE166 family."

Key features of the XE16xU and XE16xL derivates are DSP, fast 12-bit A/D converter with up to 19 channels and a conversion time below 1µs and an efficient capture/compare unit (CCU6) to drive any industrial 3-phase motor. The new low-end series from the XE166 family deliver a computing power of up to 80 MIPS, 32KB to 160KB embedded flash, up to 12KB RAM and up to four universal serial interface channels (USICs) which can be configured as UART, LIN, SPI, IIC or IIS. The package offering comprises versions with 38, 48 and 64 pins. All family members of the XE16xU and XE16xL series are opcode and peripheral compatible and thus permit simple scalability and the re-use of existing software.

The main differences between the XE16xL (L for low-end) and XE16xU (U for ultra-low-end) series are the maximum flash capacity (160KB vs. 64KB), the 12 bit A/D converter (up to 19 channels vs. 10 channels), PWM units (two vs. one) and USICs (up to four vs. two). What is more, the XE16xL microcontrollers feature a high-speed MultiCAN module with 2 nodes and 32 message objects.

Package: XE160FU (TSSOP-38), XE161FU (QFN-48), XE161FL (QFN-48) and XE162FL (QFP-64)
Availability: Now in samples volumes in Q3 2011
Price: Each start below 1 Euro for volume orders

Infineon Technologies AG has also announced a complete design package to allow functional safety according to IEC 61508 requirements for embedded designs based on its 32-bit TriCore microcontrollers. The design package includes the SafeTcore test library, a complete TriCore-based safety kit from Hitex, named SafeTkit, and comprehensive software and documentation.