STMicro Debuts First 90-nm Secure MCU

Running on an enhanced, 21-MHz 8-/16-bit CPU core with a 16-MB linear addressing range, the ST21F384 debuts as the first microcontroller (MCU) grounded on 90-nm process technology. It is also the first secure MCU within the company's ST21 smartcard platform that uses flash memory in place of mask ROM for program memory. It embeds 7 KB of user RAM and 384 KB of flash memory organized as 128-byte pages with an erase capability similar to that of the EEPROM common to earlier devices in the secure family. Current consumption complies with 2G and 3G specifications to meet the requirements of (U)SIM applications. Other features include a hardware Data Encryption Standard accelerator and a user-accessible Cyclic Redundancy Code calculation block. The ST21F384 is available as sawn or un-sawn wafers and in six-contact (D17) and eight-contact (D95) RoHS-compliant modules. In wafer form, price is $0.45 each/100,000. STMICROELECTRONICS, Lexington, MA. (888) 787-3550.