News & Events
Xicor Announces Supervisory Chip for Microcontrollers and Microprocessors
-- High-Speed SPI Interface Keeps Up With Faster Processors~-- Small Size and Low Power Make Chip Ideal for Portable Products
MILPITAS, Calif., March 2, 1998 - XICOR, Inc. (NASDAQ: XICO) today announced a single chip that provides the key functions needed for the design of microcontroller, microprocessor and ASIC systems. The X25383 supervisory chip includes a voltage supervisor, watchdog timer, reset driver and general purpose EEPROM.
The new chip can be used in any processor based product such as notebooks, PDAs, DVD players, networking cards, set-top boxes, modems, GPS systems and pagers.
The X25383 uses a high-speed, 5 Mbps Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) which provides faster communication with new high-speed processors. The small size plus low power of the chip make it ideal for portable products. The device fits in the space of a pencil eraser and operates with voltages from 5.0 down to 1.8 V.
The X25383 has a voltage supervisor that prevents a processor from operating when its power supply voltage is below its normal specification. The chip also has a watchdog timer that resets a processor which malfunctions or fails to execute its intended software. The device includes a reset driver and 8 Kbits of EEROM. The chip comes in versions with reset active low (X25383) for Motorola microcontrollers or active high (X25385) for Intel microcontrollers.
All processors need an external supervisor circuit to monitor their operation and provide a reset in the case of malfunctions. The SPI interface allows the X25383 to attach directly to all popular microcontrollers. The interfaces on ASICs and microprocessors can be modified to accept the SPI connection.
The voltage supervisor resets the attached processor if its power supply voltage falls below 4.5 V for the 5 V device, below 2.7 V for the 2.7 to 5.5 V device and below 1.8 V for the 1.8 to 3.6 V device.
The watchdog timer provides four software selectable time-out periods that include 1,400, 600 and 200 ms. The fourth period is "off" which is important during debug operations or during long down loads for in-circuit programming. If the watchdog timer does not receive a signal from the processor before the end of the watchdog time-out period, it will send a reset signal to the processor.
The 8 Kbit EEPROM in the X25383 can be read and written via the SPI interface. The memory has the ID Lock feature that reduces chip count by working like "two chips in one." The device can be partitioned into separate read only and read/write memory areas. This architecture allows sensitive data to be securely stored without the need for a separate ROM chip. ID Lock is implemented by writing the sensitive data into a block of EEPROM memory. Then, that block of data is "locked" by setting control bits in the status register. The locked portion of the array is selectable from 16 to 512 bytes.
Availability and Price
The X25383 and X25385 are sampling now and will be in production in April, 1998. The devices both come in an 8-pin SOIC (Small Outline Integrated Circuit) or 8-pin TSSOP (Thin Small Surface Outline Package).
| Prices in 10,000 quantities are: | |
| X25383 (active low reset) $0.95 | (SOIC) $0.99 (TSSOP) |
| X25385 (active high reset) $0.95 | (SOIC) $0.99 (TSSOP) |
Company Background
Xicor, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures and sells nonvolatile in-the-system programmable products which retain information even when the system is turned off or power is inadvertently lost. Xicor's product line includes digitally controlled potentiometers (XDCPs_), system management ICs, and standard and secure memory ICs.
Xicor product, corporate and financial information is readily accessible on the worldwide web at http://www.xicor.com.
