Secure MCU employs cutting-edge process

23 January 2008 DSP, Micros & Memory

STMicroelectronics has developed a new secure microcontroller (MCU) based on embedded Flash memory, which the company says is the first in the world to be produced using 90 nm process technology. The ST21F384 - the first secure MCU within ST's established ST21 smartcard platform, optimised for 2,5G and 3G mobile communications - uses Flash memory in place of mask ROM for its program memory, to provide increased flexibility and shorter lead times for manufacturers, coupled with increased cost-efficiency from its 90 nm production.

The new ST21F family will enable card manufacturers to react quickly and cost-effectively to the fast changing needs of the mobile market, customising applications late in the production process, at the card personalisation stage, and addressing the requirements of multiple mobile network operators (MNOs) with a single product. Supply chain risk and complexity can be reduced, as the silicon is not linked to a specific operator profile.

The ST21F384 is based on an enhanced 8/16-bit CPU core with 16 MByte linear addressing range, running typically at 21 MHz. It embeds 7 KBytes of user RAM, plus 384 KBytes of Flash memory, with an erase capability similar to that of the EEPROM used in earlier devices in the secure family. Current consumption complies with 2G and 3G specifications to meet the requirements of (U)SIM applications. The microcontroller includes a hardware DES (Data Encryption Standard) accelerator and a user-accessible CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Code) calculation block.

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