Ramtron expands FRAM-Enhanced MCU family with industry standard, 8051-based drop-in

Ramtron International Corporation has launched the VRS51L3174, an 8051-based microcontroller with 8 kilobytes (KB) of nonvolatile FRAM memory that drops into industry standard 44-pin QFP sockets for easy device migration. Ramtron has added FRAM to its fast and flexible Versa 8051s for a quick and reliable nonvolatile data storage and processing system that only a FRAM-Enhanced™ MCU can provide.

The VRS51L3174 combines 8KB of FRAM memory with a fully-integrated, high-performance system-on-chip. Features include an advanced 40-MIPS, single-cycle 8051-core, 64KB Flash with in-system/in-application programming, 4KB SRAM, digital signal processing (DSP) extensions and a robust digital peripheral set. Operating at 3.3 volts over the entire industrial temperature range, the VRS51L3174 is the ideal embedded data acquisition solution, targeting a wide array of advanced applications from sensors and metering to industrial control, instrumentation and medical devices.


VRS51L3174 Features

· 8K x 8 FRAM: 8KB of true nonvolatile RAM (no battery/super cap required to maintain data) mapped into the VRS51L3174’s XRAM memory for easy access, fast writes and essentially unlimited endurance.

· 40MHz, Single-Cycle 8051 Processor: This is one of the fastest 8-bit processors on the market. Its advanced core can deliver up to 40 MIPS throughput and is instruction-compatible with standard 8051s, for smooth device migration.

· MULT/ACCU/DIV Unit with 32-bit Barrel Shifter: This hardware calculation engine significantly outperforms 8-bit processors when executing DSP operations (FIR filtering, sensor output linearization, multiple-byte arithmetic operations, etc). It performs 16-bit signed multiplication and 32-bit addition in one cycle and 16-bit signed division in 5 cycles. The barrel shifter enables logic/arithmetic shift operations.


· 40MHz Internal Oscillator: The internal oscillator cuts system costs by eliminating the need for an external crystal oscillator.

· USB-JTAG Interface: For user-friendly and quick device programming and real-time, in-circuit debugging/emulation of the user application without the need for a costly emulator.

· Dual UARTs with Baud Rate Generator: The universal asynchronous receiver/transmitters operate at up to 1.25 Mbps. Each UART incorporates a dedicated baud rate generator with 20-bit equivalent resolution.

· Enhanced SPI: The communication speed on the serial peripheral interface can be configured up to 20 Mbps and transactions are adjustable from 1 to 32 bits.

· PWCs: Two pulse width counter modules provide advanced timer control, simplifying event duration measurement.

· PWMs: Eight pulse width modulators with up to 16-bit adjustable resolution. Each PWM includes its own timer, which can also be used as general purpose timers.

Other support peripherals include an I²C interface, three 16-bit general purpose timers/counters with three timer capture inputs, a watchdog timer, and 49 interrupts that share 16 interrupt vectors. The VRS51L3174 is available in a QFP-44 package that is pin-compatible with standard 8051 MCUs.

Ramtron International Corporation