AUSTIN, TX /BUSINESS WIRE/ -- Freescale Semiconductor, a leading supplier of semiconductors to the automotive industry, has achieved a major milestone in the automotive microcontroller (MCU) market. The company has shipped more than 300 million 16-bit S12 and S12X automotive MCUs to date. Freescale attained this unit shipment milestone while maintaining a low defect rate of less than one part per million.
Based on the automotive industry's leading 16-bit MCU architecture, Freescale's S12 and S12X devices are designed to enable scalability, hardware and software reuse, and compatibility across a broad array of automotive electronics platforms. The 16-bit MCU families are widely used in body, chassis, and safety applications, as well as in cost-sensitive engine control designs. The S12 devices offer a broad range of performance and memory options (with on-chip flash scaling from 16 KB to 1 MB) and a smooth migration path to higher-performance S12X MCUs.
"Now shipping at a run rate of more than 100 million units per year, our S12/S12X MCUs are the leading 16-bit solutions in the automotive industry," said Paul Grimme, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Freescale's Microcontroller Solutions Group. "Most of the world's leading automakers and tier one automotive suppliers use Freescale's S12 devices in their body electronics designs. The versatile, high-performance devices are even being used in some advanced hybrid systems, such as the battery pack controllers for GM's full-size hybrid SUVs."
High-Performance Coprocessor and FlexRay Technology
Freescale's S12 architecture features two integration innovations optimized for high-performance 16-bit automotive designs: an on-chip XGATE coprocessor and integrated FlexRay technology.
Introduced on the S12X architecture in 2004, the RISC-based XGATE coprocessor addresses the design challenge of achieving higher performance without the cost of adding separate processors. Running at twice the speed of the main CPU and without CPU processing overhead, the XGATE coprocessor is engineered to boost system performance by an extra 80 MIPS at peak operation. S12X MCUs with XGATE technology are designed to deliver performance equivalent to many 32-bit MCUs while offering the low system cost and high code-efficiency benefits of the S12 architecture.
FlexRay technology provides up to 10 times the speed of existing communications protocols for automotive networks. This high bandwidth enables nimble and versatile stability control systems, precise engine management, and weight-saving electronic brake-by-wire systems that eventually may replace bulky hydraulic brakes.
Freescale: A Leader in Automotive Semiconductors
"Freescale is the No. 1 supplier of automotive semiconductors, with more than 30 years of experience in the automotive industry." Freescale technology is used in an overwhelming majority of new vehicles. Freescale's sensors; analog products; and 8-, 16- and 32-bit MCU families provide intelligence and connectivity for advanced safety, body electronics, chassis, engine control, powertrain, driver information, and telematics. Freescale is a pioneer in FlexRay technology and was the "first supplier to integrate CAN, LIN and flash memory technologies on automotive MCUs."
About Freescale
Freescale Semiconductor is a global leader in the design and manufacture of embedded semiconductors for the automotive, consumer, industrial, networking, and wireless markets. The privately held company is based in Austin, TX, and has design, research and development, manufacturing, or sales operations in more than 30 countries. Freescale is one of the world's largest semiconductor companies, with 2007 sales of $5.7 billion.