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Extending its industry-leading embedded DRAM (eDRAM) technology to support designers of mobile phones, music players and other portable devices, NEC Electronics has introduced two new system-on-chip (SoC) solutions, the uPD60800 and uPD60801.

The SoCs integrate 16 megabits (uPD60800) and 30 megabits (uPD60801) of eDRAM memory with graphics processing logic and a high-speed MIPI-DSI (Mobile Industry Processor Interface – Display Serial Interface) graphics data connection to the host processor. The intelligent buffer integrated circuits (ICs) enable lower power consumption with high resolution and convenient display panel configurations.

For mobile devices that can support consumer demand for higher resolution graphics, the host Digital Base Band LSI or application processor must integrate more memory, increasing the size and cost of the chip. The processors also require a continuous supply of power and memory bandwidth in order to transfer data continuously to the display panel.

By inserting the new devices between the Digital Base Band LSI or application processor and the LCD driver IC, designers can implement new power- and cost-savings strategies while supporting Quarter HD and WSVGA resolution displays. The new devices also address the customer demand for higher data transfer speed by supporting MIPI-DSI interface as well as MDDI interface (uPD60801 only), says the company.

Main features of the uPD60800 and the uPD60801 solutions 1) Realize image with higher resolution with compact DRAM based package The devices are based on the NEC Electronics Buffer IC design platform that enables efficient creation of eDRAM-based solutions for mobile graphics applications. With 16 megabits of eDRAM, the new devices enable the display of 24-bit full color image data on up to Quarter HD (960 x 540 pixels) and WSVGA (wide super video graphics array, 1024 x 600 pixels) panels. Because the DRAM can be fabricated with a cell size about one-third the size of traditional SRAM, NEC Electronics is able to achieve 16 megabits of DRAM in a 5x5 millimeter (mm) FPBGA package and 30 megabits of DRAM in a 5.6mm x 5.6mm FPBGA package.

Integrates graphics processing logic for higher image quality The uPD60801 integrates AGCPS-II (Auto Gamma Control & Power Saving) functionality, the backlight control technology developed by NEC Electronics. The AGCPS-II automatically recognizes image data and adjusts the backlight brightness accordingly, thereby contributes to low-power consumption and high image quality at a same time. Window access (picture-in-picture) for both video and still images is supported. A tearing effect (TE) signal is available to manage the apparent 'tearing' that could otherwise degrade the viewing impression, when not using double buffering architectures.

Support MIPI-DSI interface The new devices support MIPI-DSI, a high-speed serial data transfer interface that reduces the number of transmitter lines while suppressing electromagnetic interference (EMI). The uPD60800 MIPI-DSI-compliant interface includes two data lanes, each capable of running at up to 500Mbps in order to receive high-quality video and graphics from the host processor while enabling lower system power consumption. In addition to MIPI-DSI, the uPD60801 device also supports MDDI interface.

SOURCE: NEC Electronics