Silicon Labs has announced two new system-on-chip (SoC) families, the SiXG301 and SiXG302 — its first wireless SoCs to be built on a 22nm process node, delivering improved performance and efficiency.
“Smart devices are becoming more complex, and designers are challenged to pack greater functionality into smaller spaces while maintaining energy efficiency,” says Silicon Labs’ Ross Sabolcik of the need for the company’s new Series 3 parts. “With the SiXG301 and upcoming SiXG302 families, we’re delivering flexible, highly integrated solutions that enable next-generation IoT [Internet of Things] devices — whether they’re plugged in or running on battery power.”
Silicon Labs has announced its first 22nm wireless systems-on-chips: the SiXG301 (pictured) and SiXG302. (📷: Silicon Labs)
The SiXG301 is designed for the former category of devices, featuring a single Arm Cortex-M33F core running at up to 150MHz, up to 512kB of static RAM (SRAM), up to 4MB of co-packaged flash storage plus a quad-SPI interface for external flash, and the buyer’s choice of a multi-protocol radio supporting Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), IEEE 802.15.4 including Zigbee, OpenThread, and Matter, proprietary 2.4GHz, and both DMP and CMP in the SiMG301 or BLE and proprietary 2.4GHz only in the SiBG301.
Both devices offer peripherals including an optional PIXELRZ single-wire interface for LED controllers, an LED pre-driver, a 12-bit analog-to-digital converter, two analog comparators, up to 28 general-purpose input/output (GPIO) pins, three EUSART buses supporting UART, SPI, DALI, IrDA, and SmartCard operation, three I2C buses, and an on-die temperature sensor. Power draw for both is rated at 8.1mA receive and 11.4mA 0dBm transmit rising to 28.6mA at 10dBm output power and 47μA/MHz in active mode at 150MHz.
Some models in the new range include a built-in LED pre-driver and two-channel single-wire interface for PIXELRZ controllers. (📷: Silicon Labs)
The SiXG302, meanwhile, is the family designed for battery-powered devices. This, the company says, will offer an active power draw of just 15µA/MHz — not only considerably below the SiXG301 range but a claimed 30 percent below chip offerings from the company’s rivals. Much of this is attributed to a shift to a 22nm semiconductor process node, a first for the company’s wireless system-on-chip portfolio.
More information is available on the Silicon Labs website; pricing had not been publicly disclosed at the time of writing.