AUSTIN, Texas, February 27 /PRNewswire/ --

Luminary Micro (www.LuminaryMicro.com), creators of the award-winning Stellaris(R) family of ARM(R) Cortex(TM)-M3-based microcontrollers (MCUs), today announced the immediate availability of nineteen new Stellaris family members, providing cost-effective entry points and precise motion control support. Additionally, Luminary Micro extends the capability and reach of the entire Stellaris family by announcing a new small BGA (ball-grid array) package option with a space-saving 10mm by 10mm footprint and a new extended temperature option with a -40 to 105 degrees Celsius operating temperature range.

"As ARM's lead partner in the development of the Cortex-M3 core, Luminary Micro was the first company to bring the ARM Cortex-M3 to market. With today's announcement, we have now brought 104 Stellaris ARM Cortex-M3-based microcontrollers to market in just two years," said Jean Anne Booth, Chief Marketing Officer of Luminary Micro. "The addition of extended temperature range and small BGA packages opens up even more opportunities for customers to add capabilities to their products that were previously out of reach."

60 Percent Footprint Reduction in 108-BGA Package

The new 108-BGA packages provide up to a 60% smaller footprint than current Stellaris-family devices available in a 100-pin LQFP package. This small 10mm by 10mm package enables the use of fully-featured Stellaris microcontrollers in designs where board space is limited, such as a motor with integrated control electronics.

19 New MCUs Extend the World's Largest Selection of ARM-based MCUs

Eighteen of the new Stellaris microcontrollers provide capable, cost-efficient entries into the product family. These include six LM3S300/600/800 low pin count real-time MCU series family members, four LM3S1000 high pin count real-time MCU series family members, four LM3S2000 CAN-enabled MCU series family members, and four LM3S6000 Ethernet-enabled MCU series members. These entry-level MCUs provide single cycle on-chip flash ranging from 16KB to 256KB, single cycle on-chip SRAM ranging from 4KB to 64KB, and include I2Cs, SPIs, UARTs, up to four flexible 32-bit timers, and up to eight channels of analog-to-digital conversion.

Also announced today is the LM3S8971, which provides a new option for precision motor control, with six motion-control capable PWMs, a CAN 2.0 A/B controller and an integrated 10/100 Ethernet MAC / PHY. The recently announced Brushless DC Motor Control Reference Design Kit (RDK-BLDC) features the new LM3S8971 and includes four-quadrant motor control for three-phase brushless DC motors rated at up to 36 V and 60,000 RPM.

New Extended Temperature Option Extends Operating Range

Rounding out the capabilities announced today is a new extended temperature operating range, adding an option for -40 to 105 degree Celsius extended temperature operating range. Both the new extended temperature grade and current industrial temperature grade (-40 to 85 degree Celsius) options are available across the entire Stellaris family of microcontrollers.

Stellaris Features the Cortex-M3 Core

The ARM Cortex-M3 processor, the microcontroller member of the ARM Cortex processor family, is at the heart of all Stellaris microcontrollers. Designed for serious microcontroller applications, the Cortex-M3 core features highly deterministic, fast interrupt processing - as low as six cycles and never more than twelve cycles. At the heart of the Cortex-M3 processor is an advanced 3-stage pipeline core, based on the Harvard architecture, incorporating features such as branch speculation, single cycle multiply and hardware divide to deliver exceptional performance. Cortex-M3 implements the new Thumb(R)-2 mixed 16-/32-bit instruction set architecture without mode switching, helping it to be 70 percent more efficient per MHz than an ARM7TDMI-S(R) processor executing Thumb instructions, and 35 percent more efficient than the ARM7TDMI-S processor executing ARM instructions, for the Dhrystone benchmark.

The Stellaris microcontroller family features a fully integrated 10/100 Ethernet, up to three integrated Bosch CAN 2.0 A/B controllers, three UARTs, two I2Cs, and two synchronous serial interfaces (SSI). Stellaris Ethernet-enabled devices combine both the Media Access Control (MAC) and Physical (PHY) layers, marking the first time that integrated connectivity is available with an ARM Cortex-M3 MCU and the only integrated 10/100 Ethernet MAC and PHY available in an ARM architecture MCU. The integrated Ethernet features automatic MDI/MDI-X cross-over detection, and several Ethernet-enabled Stellaris microcontrollers also include hardware-assisted support for synchronized industrial networks utilizing the IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP).

Pricing and Availability

The new Stellaris MCUs are available now through Luminary Micro's global sales channel (www.LuminaryMicro.com/sales) and online (www.LuminaryMicro.com/products/) starting at a suggested price of USD 1.75 (10,000 unit quantity).

About Luminary Micro and Stellaris

Luminary Micro, Inc. designs, markets and sells ARM Cortex-M3-based microcontrollers (MCUs). Austin, Texas-based Luminary Micro is the lead partner for the Cortex-M3 processor, delivering the world's first silicon implementation of the Cortex-M3 processor. Developed for use in embedded and industrial applications, Luminary Micro's introduction of the award-winning Stellaris(R) family of products provides 32-bit performance for the same price as current 8- and 16-bit microcontroller designs. With entry-level pricing at US$1.00 for an ARM technology-based MCU, Luminary Micro's Stellaris product line allows for standardization that eliminates future architectural upgrades or software tools changes.

Stellaris and the Luminary Micro logo are registered trademarks of Luminary Micro, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. All other brands or product names are the property of their respective holders.

Luminary Micro Company Contact: Jean Anne Booth / CMO / +1-512-917-3088 mobile / +1-512-279-8801 office / JeanAnne.Booth@LuminaryMicro.com

Web site: http://www.luminarymicro.com

Jean Anne Booth, CMO, Luminary Micro, Inc., +1-512-279-8801, mobile, +1-512-917-3088, JeanAnne.Booth@LuminaryMicro.com