OREANDA-NEWS. Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO: 6502) today announced the launch of a new microcontroller, "TMPM036FWFG", as the latest addition to its ARM® Cortex®-M0-based "TX00 series". The new IC, housed in LQFP100-pin package, is optimized for MFPs and printers. Sample shipments will start in March 2015.

In MFP and printer applications, the microcontroller needs to communicate with the main control unit and onboard peripherals units. It also needs to have a timer function that can output pulses to control stepping motors and DC motors. An increase in the number of channels is required in both functions, as the first step to developing more fully featured MFP and printers.

Housed in LQFP100-pin package, the "TMPM036FWFG" offers more communication and timer function channels than Toshiba’s current IC in volume production, the "TMPM037FWUG", which is housed in LQFP64-pin package. The new IC incorporates an 8-channel communication interface, two channels more than the current IC, and a 14-channel 16-bit timer against 10 channels in the "TMPM037FWUG". Developers can select the optimum microcontroller according to the system scale or usage from these two products.

TMPM036FWFG is an ARM® Cortex®-M-based microcontroller, allowing use of the same development environment system as for the current ARM® Cortex®-M-based TX03/TX04 series. This improves the cost-efficiency of system development.