486 chip used in embedded systems

SGS Thomson Microelectronics has introduced a range of 486-based circuit technology that can be used in embedded systems such as television set-top-boxes and low-cost PCs used to access the Internet.

The new microprocessor technology is based on a fully static ST486DX ASIC core and can be used in conjunction with high-performance semi-custom standard cell technology and a large library of functions to build powerful embedded systems.

Targetted at emerging applications such as hand-held computers and multimedia terminals, the ST486DX ASIC core is an embedded microprocessor core that offers full x86 functionality along with DOS and Windows compatibility.

Technical press relations manager at SGS Thomson Microelectronics, Simon Loe, said: 'Our core technology enables people to make custom chips which are dedicated to their applications. The customised chip has a specific useage: a customer, for example, who wants to make a set-top-box or a PC for children or an Internet terminal, where you will not need all the functions in a standard Intel chip.' SGS Thomson could take the 'blocks' that go into making a microprocessor - much like a Lego block - and re-assemble them to provide customers with the functionality they need to make specific products, he said.

Manufactured in a high-speed 0.35 micron, five-layer metal, low voltage HCMOS process that can support chip sizes of over two million equivalent usable gates, the ST486DX core is based on the design used for the clock-tripled ST486DX4 microprocessor.

It is therefore capable of operating at two or three times the external bus speed, up to a maximum of 120 MHz.