The MCUs are based on a high-performance 78K0R core with 24 MHz clock speed, which delivers up to 15 Dhrystone MIPS. A new feature is an enhanced instruction set containing 25 additional instructions.
Furthermore, particular attention was given to the enhancement and optimization of the storage resources. In addition to up to 256 Kbytes Flash memory for the software, the MCU family offers a further 16 Kbytes Flash memory, separated from the program memory, for the EEPROM emulation. Linear memory addressing eliminates the need for memory banking. Fast access times, both to program memory and data memory, enable a high execution speed.
An additional feature of the 78K0R/Fx3 devices is the extended LIN support with automatic baud rate detection and improved timer functionality, which significantly reduces software effort and simplifies the design of complex timer implementations.
To facilitate application development with the 16-bit MCUs of the 78K0R/Fx3 series, engineers can rely on a wide range of field-tested tools. In addition to the IECUBE(TM) in-circuit emulator, which among other things enables real-time trace and emulation, the offering also includes MINICUBE2(TM) on-chip serial debugging emulator and flash programmer, PG-FP5 flash programmer and Applilet - an automatic source code generator.
Depending on version, the microcontrollers of the 78K0R/Fx3 series are available in QFN packages, QFPs or SSOPs with 30 to 100 pins. Samples of the first devices are scheduled to be available during the middle of 2009.