Motorola spices up flash for 16-bit MCU line

摘要

Austin, Texas - Motorola Inc.'s Semiconductor Products Sector will introduce a new line of 16-bit microcontrollers today with flash modules that are larger and much faster to program. Paul Grimme, general manager of the 8- and 16-bit Microcontroller Division, said Motorola's dominance in the 8-bit arena has notbeen duplicated in the general-purpose 16-bit MCU market. "We rank third among 16-bit controller vendors," behind Hitachi Ltd. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp., he said. "One reason is that we've put our attention on automotive. What we plan to do is take our success in 16-bit automotive MCUs and translate that into the wider 16-bit MCU market," Grimme said. The new HCS12 line also is positioned as an upgrade path for many users of Motorola's nearly ubiquitous HC11 8-bit flash controllers, which have an earlier-generation flash technology, Grimme said. About a billion units of the HC11 family have shipped pver the past decade.