LPC178x7x Cortex-M3 Microcontroller

NXP's LPC178x / 7x is an ARM Cortex-M3 based microcontroller for embedded applications requiring a high level of integration and low power dissipation.

The Cortex-M3 is a next generation core that offers better performance than the ARM7 at the same clock rate and other system enhancements such as modernized debug features and a higher level of support block integration. The Cortex-M3 CPU incorporates a 3-stage pipeline and has a Harvard architecture with separate local instruction and data buses, as well as a third bus with slightly lower performance for peripherals. The Cortex-M3 CPU also includes an internal prefetch unit that supports speculative branches.

The LPC178x / 7x adds a specialized flash memory accelerator to accomplish optimal performance when executing code from flash. The LPC178x / 7x is targeted to operate at up to 120 MHz CPU frequency.