NXP Semiconductors cuts usb block size
1 min read
NXP engineers have reduced the silicon area needed for usb connectivity by 75%, opening the possibility that future Cortex based microcontrollers from the company will feature the technology automatically.
Geoff Lees, general manager of NXP's microcontroller product line, said: "I see no reason in the future to offer microcontrollers without usb. As long as we're away from the minimum die size, we will do it."
According to Lees, most usb controllers require 40k gates, rising to more than 70k if DMA is added. "And a host controller could need up to 250k gates," he continued. "This new block takes up less than 10k gates and is smaller than the Cortex-M0 cpu." Lees added power consumption had also been reduced.
NXP is introducing the usb block in the Cortex-M0 based LPC11U00 range, which Lees said will prove a 'compelling replacement' for 8 and 16bit usb mcus. "The highly flexible architecture we're introducing is, quite simply, a better approach to usb."
With the NXP approach, end point buffers are part of system ram. Up to 10 configurable end points are available and all end point buffers are configurable, except for end point 0. Amit Bhojraj, mcu product marketing manager, noted: "Typically, buffers are dedicated to usb. With these mcus, buffer space that isn't used can be allocated as regular system ram." A further benefit is the cpu has direct access to usb packets.
