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Cypress Introduces Programmable System on Chip in Tiny 4 x 4 mm Package; New Chip Delivers Extensive Analog and Digital Integration for Space-Constrained Applications Such as Fan Controllers and Battery Chargers

Business Wire, April 27, 2005

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE:CY) today announced production shipments of its smallest and least expensive Programmable System-on-Chip(TM) (PSoC(TM)) mixed-signal array. In addition to four configurable analog blocks and four configurable digital blocks, the CY8C21x23 device provides four Kbytes of flash memory for program storage and 256 bytes of SRAM for data, making it ideal for a variety of consumer and industrial control applications such as fan controllers; battery chargers; security sensors and control; large sensor arrays, and smart temperature, pressure and flow sensors.

"The CY8C21x23 delivers PSoC's well-known analog and digital functionality and flexibility in a very small package and at an aggressive price point," said John McDonald, PSoC marketing director for Cypress. "This solution extends our range of value-priced options, offering designers the ability to differentiate end products in a variety of high-volume applications."

The CY8C21x23's analog and digital blocks can be configured as 8-bit timers, counters and pulse-width modulators (PWMs). For example, the new device can integrate a full-duplex UART, I(2)C, SPI, and two 10-bit ADCs. This reduces overall device count and board size, lowers BOM cost, and improves system quality and reliability.

Pricing and Availability

The CY8C21x23 is available in 8- and 16-pin SOIC, 20-pin SSOP, and 24-pin 4x4 MLF packages. It operates between 2.4V and 5.25V and from -40 to 85 degrees C. The product is in production and the 8-pin SOIC device is priced starting at $0.55 each in 10,000-unit quantities. A high-resolution photo can be downloaded at http://www.cypress.com/CY8C21X23photo.> About the PSoC Family

PSoC devices are configurable mixed signal arrays that integrate a fast 8-bit microcontroller with many peripheral functions typically found in an embedded design. PSoC devices provide the advantages of an ASIC without the ASIC NRE or turn-around time. A single PSoC device can integrate as many as 100 peripheral functions with a microcontroller, saving customers design time, board space, power consumption. Customers can save from 5 cents to as much as $10 in system costs. Easy to use development tools enable designers to select configurable library elements to provide analog functions such as amplifiers, ADCs, DACs, filters and comparators and digital functions such as timers, counters, PWMs, SPI and UARTs. The PSoC family's analog features include rail-to-rail inputs, programmable gain amplifiers and up to 14-bit ADCs with exceptionally low noise, input leakage and voltage offset. PSoC devices include up to 32KB of Flash memory, 2KB of SRAM, an 8x8 multiplier with 32-bit accumulator, power and sleep monitoring circuits, and hardware I(2)C communications.

All PSoC devices are dynamically reconfigurable, enabling designers to create new system functions on-the-fly. Designers can achieve more than 120 percent utilization of the die in many cases, by reconfiguring the same silicon for different functions at different times. In the automotive PSoC LIN bus reference design, the same digital blocks are reconfigured four times to support the different LIN communication modes; in doing so, these blocks consume less than 10 percent of PSoC hardware resources and less than 10 percent of the PSoC MCU cycles.

Software and Support

PSoC Designer, the traditional software development environment for PSoC, is a full-featured, GUI-based design tool suite that enables the user to configure design-in silicon with simple point and click options. With PSoC Designer, users can code the MCU in either C or assembly language; and debug the design using sophisticated features such as event triggers and multiple break points, while single-stepping through code in C or assembly or a mix of the two.

In March of this year, Cypress introduced PSoC Express(TM), the first development tool that allows microcontroller-based design development without Assembly language or C programming. By operating at a higher level of abstraction and removing required firmware development, PSoC Express enables designs to be created, simulated and programmed to targeted PSoC devices in hours or days instead of weeks or months. PSoC Express includes an application generation engine and includes an input/output device catalog and communication protocols like I(2)C and RS232, all of which are combined visually by the designer to build custom solutions. Both PSoC Express and PSoC Designer can be downloaded free of charge from the Cypress web site at www.cypress.com/psocexpress.> The new CY3215-DK Professional Class Development Kit includes a tiny high-speed in-circuit USB 2.0 based emulator with a large trace buffer, which seamlessly integrates with PSoC Designer and the user's development board. The development kit includes everything necessary to complete a design with the PSoC family of ICs. The tools are designed for ease of use, to support all the advanced PSoC packages and to keep the cost of development to a minimum while providing all the features found in tools that cost $2,500 or more. The CY3215-DK is priced at $599 (suggested resale).