Toshiba launched “M3H Group” with 30 products for consumer and industrial device applications in May 2016, as the first product group of the TXZ family. October saw the start of sample shipments of 13 products from the second product group, "M4K Group," equipped with a vector engine.

The newly launched “M3H group” ranks higher than the first phase “M3H group”. Its products have a package line-up that extends to a maximum of 144-pins, and a built-in maximum of 512 KB Flash ROM.

The new products are based on the ARM Cortex-M core for embedded systems, the de facto industry standard and incorporate high-performance analog circuits and the wide range of basic functions required to support comprehensive motor control and application in consumer and industrial devices. The line-up includes a range of 64 to 144-pin packages and 256 to 512KB of flash memory, and 32-bit data flash memory.

The operating frequency is 80MHz (maximum), twice the speed of “M3H group.” Integrated features include high-precision analog circuits such as a 12-bit AD converter (maximum 21 channels) with 1.5μs conversion speed; and an 8-bit DA converter (2 channels), plus Toshiba’s “Advanced-Programmable Motor Driver (A-PMD),” a motor control circuit suitable for inverter motor control of brushless DC motors.

The IC also incorporates versatile general-purpose peripheral circuits such as UART, I2C, TSPI, and timers. These high-precision analog and general-purpose peripheral circuits allow the M3H group (2) to achieve low-power characteristics and a high-performance at the same time for high-end home appliances and large scale systems.

In addition, a built-in self-diagnosis function that checks a reference voltage in the AD converter, a RAM parity function to detect errors during memory reads, and a CRC calculation circuit contribute to reduced loads in software processing to comply with the functional safety standard [1].

During sample shipment, Toshiba will provide technical documentation essential for reviewing introduction of the microcontrollers, software for demonstrating embedded systems that can be used, evaluation boards, and driver software for each control interface. In addition, various development environments satisfying diverse needs can be realized through collaboration with ARM ecosystem partners worldwide.