New Toshiba ICs for Bluetooth® Smart Devices Facilitate Adoption of Communication Functions in Wearables
November 17, 2015
New ICs feature built-in Flash ROM, NFC and low power consumption
SAN JOSE, Calif., – Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC)*, a committed leader that collaborates with technology companies to create breakthrough designs, today launched two Bluetooth® Smart1 ICs with capabilities that support Bluetooth Low Energy (LE)2 v4.1 communications. The TC35676FTG/FSG and TC35675XBG both feature built-in Flash ROM, and the latter also integrates an NFC Type 3 tag (FeliCa™ Lite-S compatible).
Deepak Mithani, senior director, Mixed-Signal Business Unit, System LSI Group at TAEC, stated, “As the market for wearables continues its rapid expansion, users are increasingly demanding low-power communication capabilities built into their devices, allowing them to easily exchange data with medical professionals, family members, trainers and others. Our newest chips expand the capabilities of Bluetooth Smart devices offering Bluetooth LE compatibility to facilitate manufacturers’ ability to incorporate this technology into their offerings.”
The TC35676FTG/FSG realizes low power consumption by adopting the same original low-power circuit design and integrating a highly efficient DC-DC converter as the existing product3. The new IC improves on its predecessor by integrating Flash ROM to store a user program and various data for standalone use cases. It also features an expanded 64KB user program area, enabled by its increased internal SRAM size that allows its internal ARM® processor to execute various kinds of application programs.
The TC35675XBG is the next-generation version of the TC35670FTG dual-capability IC, announced last December. The new IC further supports both Bluetooth LE communications and NFC Tag functions, adding ease of both Bluetooth pairing and power on/off functions via touching an NFC-supported smartphone. NFC Tag communication speed is 212Kbps/424Kbps with automatic switchover.
The new ICs are designed to realize better cost performance than previous products because the built-in 192KB Flash ROM can eliminate an external EEPROM and reduce external parts count and board size, and will facilitate adoption of Bluetooth LE communications for wearable healthcare devices, sensors and toys, as well as other high-grade small devices. The chips also feature the same degree of low power consumption as the current products (less than 6mA at peak consumption and less than 100nA in deep sleep, at 3.3V), greatly extending battery life for a range of devices, including those operating on small coin-cell batteries.
In addition to full support for Bluetooth v4.1, various Bluetooth LE central and peripheral devices and built-in GATT profile with server and client functions, the new ICs operate with a voltage range of 1.8V~3.6V, temperature range of -40 deg. C to 85 deg. C, and output power of 0dBm to -20dBm (4dB steps). The TC35675XBG is housed in a FBGA52 package (4.5mm x 4.5mm x 0.5mm pitch), and the TC35676FTG/FSG are supplied in QFN40 packages (6mm x 6mm x 0.5mm pitch or 5mm x 5mm x 0.4mm pitch).
Other features of the new ICs include UART, I2C, SPI and GPIO interfaces; general-purpose analog-to-digital converter (ADC); user programmability; and pulse-width modulation (PWM).
Availability
Sample shipments of the TC35675XBG and TC35676FTG/FSG Bluetooth Smart ICs are set to begin today.
*About TAEC
Through proven commitment, lasting relationships and advanced, reliable electronic components, Toshiba enables its customers to create market-leading designs. Toshiba is the heartbeat within product breakthroughs from OEMs, ODMs, CMs, VARs, distributors and fabless chip companies worldwide. A committed electronic components leader, Toshiba designs and manufactures high-quality flash memory-based storage solutions, solid state drives (SSDs), hard disk drives (HDDs), solid state hybrid drives (SSHDs), discrete devices, custom SoCs/ASICs, imaging products, microcontrollers, wireless components, mobile peripheral devices, advanced materials and medical tubes that make possible today’s leading smartphones, tablets, cameras, medical devices, automotive electronics, industrial applications, enterprise solutions and more.
Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. is an independent operating company owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation, Japan’s largest semiconductor manufacturer and the world’s sixth largest semiconductor manufacturer (Gartner, 2014 Worldwide Semiconductor Revenue Estimates, December 2014). Founded in Tokyo in 1875, Toshiba is at the heart of a global network of over 590 consolidated companies employing over 200,000 people worldwide. Visit Toshiba's web site at www.toshiba.co.jp/index.htm.
1Devices that adopt Bluetooth core specification Ver. 4.1 or higher with low-energy core configuration, and that use GATT-based architecture specified in Bluetooth 4.0
2Low power-consuming communication technology defined as Bluetooth Ver. 4.1
3TC35667FTG/FSG, introduced in February 2014
The Bluetooth word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc.; Toshiba uses them under license.
FeliCa™ is a contactless IC card technology developed by Sony Corporation. TC35675XBG is designed using FeliCa™ Lite-S technology licensed from Sony Corporation. FeliCaTM is a trademark of Sony Corporation.
ARM is a registered trademark of ARM Limited in the EU and other countries.
Information in this press release, including product pricing and specifications, content of services and contact information, is current and believed to be accurate on the date of the announcement, but is subject to change without prior notice. Technical and application information contained here is subject to the most recent applicable Toshiba product specifications.