Mitsubishi Electric Commences Sales of the 7900 Series, the Top-Line Series of the World's No.1 16-bit Microcomputer 7700 Family

Tokyo, October 1, 1997 -- Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (president: Takashi Kitaoka) hereby announce the development of the 7900 series, which incorporates increased CPU processing power, as a top-line member of the 16-bit microcomputer 7700 family used to control the hard disk drives for computers and other computer-related equipment, such as office appliances and portable information equipment. The shipment of samples for the six available models, which include built-in flash memory capable of operating on a single power supply, will commence on October 6, 1997.

Development History

Our 16-bit microcomputer 7700 family is widely used throughout the manufacturing industry as system controllers for hard disk drives, CD-ROM units, printers, PPCs, mobile telephones, personal handy-phones and other related equipment, and there is an increasing demand for high levels of data processing capabilities to cope with the increases in functionality and performance in such equipment. There is also a demand for microcomputers equipped with flash memories that are able to cope easily with program bugs, modifications to specifications and software up-grades inherent with the advent of large-scale programs and wide-ranging diversity in application equipment.

Demand for products that provide high-speed operations on low voltage power for energy-saving purposes is also prevalent.

In order to provide solutions to these demands, Mitsubishi Electric developed the 7900 series as a top-line member of the 7700 family.

Product Features

(1) A three-fold increase in CPU performance and 30% improved program code efficiency over the 7700 series

- The number of commands have been expanded to 203 while maintaining upward compatibility with the basic 7700 CPU commands (103 commands) to provide efficient command setting.

- The fastest command is executed within the space of one cycle, and this is reduced to 50ns when connected to an external clock input with a 20MHz frequency level.

- The chip employs a method of separating the code path and data path, and this, in combination with a 10-byte command queue buffer and a 4-byte data buffer in the path interface unit, enables high-speed data processing.

(2) Built-in flash memory that operates on a single power supply of 5V/3.3V to enable block erasure [20MHz operation possible with 3.3V (the industry's fastest)]

- 5V/3.3V operation on a single power supply made possible by 0.5µm DINOR flash memory process technology.

- As writing and erasure is possible with a single power supply, overwriting can be easily performed on-board.

- Block erasure and CPU overwriting is also supported.

(3) Development environments which use on-chip debugging functions supported

- The break functions and trace functions that used to be performed with external emulators have been built into the chips, enabling the debugging of microcomputers that operate at high speeds with low-cost emulators.

(4) Low power consumption

- Developed with the energy-saving power capabilities of the reputable 7700 family.

(5) Reduction of unwanted radiation and improved noise resistance

- Unnecessary signal fluctuations restrained.

- Drive performance optimized.

- Noise canceler improved.

(1) Built-in high-performance 7900 CPU

- 203 basic commands.

- 50ns execution time for the fastest command (when connected to an external clock with an input frequency of 20MHz)

(2) Wide range of memory types

- External memory type: Built-in 2K RAM

- Flash memory: Built-in 256 kilobyte flash memory, built-in 6 kilobyte RAM

• Flash memory: Built-in 128 kilobyte flash memory, built-in 4 kilobyte RAM

(3) Powerful peripheral functions

- DMAC 4ch

- DRAMC (supports Fast Page/EDO)

- Eight 16-bit timers, two serial I/O channels

- Four 10-bit A-D converter channels

(4) On-chip debugging function

Product descriptions

Three types of the 7900 series will be marketed during the first phase; the external memory type, the built-in 256 kilobyte flash memory type and the built-in 128 kilobyte flash memory type. Each of these will be available in the 5V power voltage model and the 3.3V power voltage model, making a total of six different models.

	Model name	Power voltage	Operating frequency for external clocks	Date of sample shipping	Sample price
External Memory type	M37920S4CGP	5.0V	20MHz	October 6, 1997	1,000 yen
	M37920S4MHP	3.3V	12MHz	October 6, 1997	1,000 yen
256 kilobyte flash memory type	M37920FGCGP	Single power supply of 5.0V	20MHz	November 1997	2,500 yen
	M37920FGMHP	Single power supply of 3.3V	20MHz	November 1997	2,500 yen
128 kilobyte flash memory type	M37920FCCGP	Single power supply of 5.0V	20MHz	November 1997	2,000 yen
	M37920FCMHP	Single power supply of 3.3V	20MHz	November 1997	2,000 yen

Future development

5V built-in flash memory model Mask ROM model

5V models 256 kilobytes 256 kilobytes

M37920FGCGP

M37920S4CGP 128 kilobytes 128 kilobytes

M37920FCCGP

3.3V built-in flash memory model Mask ROM model (3.3V)

3.3V models 256 kilobytes 256 kilobytes

M37920FGMHP

M37920S4MHP 128 kilobytes 128 kilobytes

M37920FCMHP

Production schedule

End of 1997: 100,000/month

Spring 1998: 500,000/month