NATIONAL LAUNCHES FIRST SILICON DUST? MICROCONTROLLER - WORLD'S SMALLEST 8-BIT HIGHLY-INTEGRATED MICROCONTROLLER IN 28-PIN PACKAGE

COP8SAC Family Incorporates Many Peripheral Functions in Advanced Chip-Scale Packaging for Economical, Flexible and Space-Saving Applications

July 26, 1999 -- National Semiconductor Corp®. today announced that it will deliver the first highly-integrated eight-bit microcontroller in a 28-pin chip-scale package (CSP) that measures only 4.5 x 5.5 x 1.0 mm. The COP8SAC family of EPROM-based one-time programmable (OTP) microcontrollers offers designers a variety of on-chip functions in a very small package.

"The Silicon Dust™ Microcontroller is the world's smallest microcontoller available in a 28-pin package. At the same time, it offers an unprecedented level of integrated functions for maximum flexibility, space savings and lowest system cost," said Naresh Shetty, National's director of marketing for Analog Microcontrollers. "The COP8SAC 8-bit microcontroller is part of the market-leading Silicon Dust initiative of micro-packaged devices that National pioneered. These microcontrollers take the industry's widely-used COP8 family in a new, and tinier, direction.

"No other supplier of embedded micros offers this efficient package size. Plus, this 28-lead CSP package integrates many peripheral functions that commonly reside external to the microcontroller," Shetty added.

Peripheral functions integrated on the COP8SAC include: Power On Reset, RC oscillator with four clock options, WATCHDOG and Clock monitor, up to 12 high-current outputs, 16-bit multifunction timers, featuring, processor-independent PWM (pulse width modulation) mode, external event counter, input capture mode, idle & halt mode operation, multi-input wake-up, Microwire/Plus serial interface, eight bytes of user storage for serial numbers, date codes, etc., and a true security feature.

Because the COP8SAC family of monolithic EPROM OTP microcontrollers is made on a 0.6-micron process, it has a very competitive price/performance point. This makes the family very cost effective for customers in high-volume production.

Furthermore, like other COP8 products, the COP8SAC7SLB family provides efficient applications code and permits production builds before the application code is optimized, thus allowing the use of high-level programming languages for code development. The 4kB EPROM version, for example, allows customers to maximize their cost performance after they have maximized their code efficiency.

Other features include: patented technology that offers bullet-proof code security, patented EMI-reduction circuitry that reduces EMI by 20 dB, a wide range of third-party programmer support, as well as factory direct programming, in-system programming and a wide range of development tools support.

Pricing and Availability
The COP8SAC7SLB is priced at $2.43 each in 1000-unit quantities. They are housed in a 28-lead plastic, small outline chip-scale CSP28 package and operate over a temperature rang e of -40 to +85 degrees C. The COP8SAC7SLB will be available in October 1999. For more information visit www.national.com/cop8

About National Semiconductor
National Semiconductor provides system-on-a-chip solutions for the information age. Combining real-world analog and state-of the-art digital technology, the company's chips lead many sectors of the personal computer, communications, and consumer markets. With headquarters in Santa Clara, California, National has annual sales of $2 billion and 11,500 employees worldwide. Additional company and product information is available on the World Wide Web at www.national.com.