PowerPC Packs Punch

June 8, 2006

Applied Micro Circuits' 400-MHz PowerPC 405EZ microprocessor targets networked industrial control applications. The 64-bit core includes 32 kbytes of SRAM. Its external bus with arbitration can handle a range of memory types, including flash and CRAM. Peripherals include Fast Ethernet, two USB 1.1 hosts and one USB 1.1 device interface, CAN, SPI, I2C, and serial. It also offers an eight-channel, 10-bit, 300-ksample/s analog-to-digital converter and a 10-bit, 30-Msample/s digital-to-analog converter. Its 48-bit Chameleon Timer provides a customizable timer management system. Maximum power is less than 1.5 W. It's available in a 324-pin, 23- by 23-mm plastic ball-grid array package. Pricing starts at $15. Extendedtemperaturerange versions are available. www.amcc.com

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William G. Wong | Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF

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I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.

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