MC9S12XHZ512 Microcontroller for Automotive Instrumentation and TFT Applications from Freescale

Oct 2006. Freescale introduced MC9S12XHZ512 a 16-bit microcontroller designed for automotive instrumentation clusters, and also offers an on-chip integrated Thin-Film Transistor (TFT) display drive, enables instrumentation cluster designers to reduce the designs complexity and provide high-quality graphic displays on low-end automotive dashboards.

The S12XHZ512 MCU is the latest addition to Freescale’s S12HZ family. The S12HZ family is based on Freescale’s S12 architecture and boasts 15 members (i.e. MC9S12HZ128, MC9S12HZ256, MC9S12HZ64),  ranging from ultra-low-cost 32KB ROM versions to devices with up to 256KB of flash memory. The S12XHZ512 is upwardly code compatible with the HCS12 family, enabling HCS12 developers to reuse design tools for their new S12XHZ512.
 

MC9S12XHZ512, MCU for Automotive Instrumentation and TFT

The S12XHZ512 MCU handles application-critical intelligent control functions and is designed to drive the display in a car dashboard. In addition to supporting TFT displays, the device can drive analog gauges, liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and light-emitting diode (LED) displays. Key S12XHZ512 features for instrumentation cluster designers include 512KB of on-chip flash memory (twice that of its S12HZ predecessor), an LCD driver and stepper motor drivers for gauges.

Mike McCourt, vice president and general manager of Freescale’s microcontroller division:

The S12XHZ512 comes at a perfect time for our instrumentation cluster customers…

…Once limited to high-end vehicles, TFT displays are growing more prevalent in low-end to mid-range vehicles, which the S12XHZ family targets. The MCU’s integrated XGATE coprocessor provides an enabling technology for TFT displays by driving the system cost reductions necessary to accelerate adoption of next-generation displays in the mainstream automotive market.”
 

MC9S12XHZ512 Features:

The MC9S12XHZ512 offers the standard features of the existing members of the HZ-family, such as 6-stepper drives with patented stall detection capability and a 32×4 LCD display drive.  MC9S12XHZ512 additional features:

• 512KB flash memory
• 40MHz enhanced 16-bit HCS12 CPU core
• XGATE coprocessor module with programmable DMA controller, real-time interrupt handler and virtual peripheral controller
• Up to 12KB RAM and 2KB EEPROM
• Advanced interrupt and timer features
• 16-channel analog-to-digital converter (ADC)
• Two 1Mbps CAN 2.0 A,B software-compatible modules
• Two asynchronous serial communications interfaces (SCI) and a serial peripheral interface (SPI)
• 6-channel pulse width modulation (PWM)
• On-chip single-wire background debug mode (BDM) with trace buffer
• 112-pin LQFP and 80-pin QFP package options
• Qualified temperature ranges of -40 C to 125 C

MC9S12HZ512 and MC9S12XHZ512 Comparison:

MC9S12XHZ complements MC9S12HZ family’s with more memory, more CAN channels, more IIC channels, more Stepper Stall Detectors (SSD), faster bus frequency and the addition of the XGATE coprocessor.

About Advanced XGATE co-processor

The S12XHZ512 MCU takes S12HZ family integration a step further by incorporating Freescale’s advanced XGATE coprocessor module. Introduced on the S12X architecture in 2004, the XGATE coprocessor addresses the design challenge of achieving higher MCU performance without the cost and complexity of adding separate processors.

XGATE was initially designed to offload the growing communications burden associated with driving multiple control-area networks (CAN) and local interconnect networks (LIN) from the main CPU. XGATE module can drive a 30,000-pixel TFT display directly, without the need for an external graphics driver IC. With the addition of a low-cost 100K-gate FPGA, the XGATE can drive an even larger quarter video graphics array (QVGA). In both application examples, designers can achieve an estimated system cost savings of $2-$4.

To learn more, you can download MC9S12XHZ512 Datasheet (PDF, 5.7MB).

MC9S12XHZ512 availability
The MC9S12XHZ512 MCU and MC9S12XHZ512EVB evaluation board are available now in sample quantities.
 

About Freescale Semiconductor
Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. (NYSE:FSL) (NYSE:FSL.B) is a global leader in the design and manufacture of embedded semiconductors for the automotive, consumer, industrial, networking and wireless markets. Freescale became a publicly traded company in July 2004. The company is based in Austin, Texas, and has design, research and development, manufacturing or sales operations in more than 30 countries. Freescale, a member of the S&P 500®, is one of the world’s largest semiconductor companies with 2005 sales of $5.8 billion (USD).

Freescale™ and the Freescale logo are trademarks of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.

Source: Freescale