Microchip Announces New 16-bit MCU Family With nanoWatt XLP Extreme Low Power Technology
Microchip Technology Inc. announced the low-cost, low pin count PIC24F04KA201 family of 16-bit microcontrollers – the latest to feature nanoWatt XLP extreme low power technology. The company says the PIC24F04KA family makes it even more cost effective to take advantage of what is described as the world’s lowest sleep-current consumption microcontrollers, with typical sleep currents as low as 20nA. This low power and lower cost, combined with small-footprint 14- and 20-pin package options, makes the PIC24F04KA201 MCU family well suited for battery-powered applications, energy-harvesting applications and other power-constrained applications that are also cost and space constrained.
The new PIC XLP microcontrollers contain features that are well suited for applications such as remote sensors powered by energy harvesting or sealed-battery applications, enabling them to run for up to 20 years from a single battery. Additionally, the lower price and smaller footprint of these new devices make them even easier to integrate into space-constrained products where low power and low cost are of primary concern.
The key to the PIC24F04KA201 MCUs’ 20nA sleep currents is Deep Sleep mode. By isolating power to various circuits during sleep, Deep Sleep mode reduces power consumption to a minimum. Additionally, Deep Sleep gives designers the flexibility to customize their applications for the lowest power consumption through multiple internal wake-up sources, such as Brown-Out Resets, interrupts and Watch-dog Timers, all while maintaining the I/O states.
"Microchip is committed to providing the world’s lowest power consumption, with more than 50 PIC MCUs featuring nanoWatt XLP technology now in production," said Mitch Obolsky, Vice President of Microchip’s Advanced Microcontroller Architecture Division. "The PIC24F04KA201 16-bit family is the latest result of this commitment, offering the lowest cost and lowest pin count PIC24, while maintaining the world’s lowest sleep currents."
Example applications for the new PIC24F04KA microcontrollers include: Medical (portable and home medical devices, oxygen flow meters, lifestyle/fitness monitors); Industrial (energy harvesting/scavenging, water/gas/heat meters, portable gas sensors, remote sensor networks, asset tracking, sealed/harsh environment sensors); and Consumer (security-system dongles, sealed disposable electronics, portable electronics, smart cards).
In addition to being well suited for low-power and space-constrained applications, the PIC24F04KA201 MCU family has high C-code efficiency and computational horsepower, which makes it well suited for applications requiring advanced algorithms. Other key features include: up to 16 MIPS operation using 32 MHz internal clock; 4 Kbytes Flash, and 512 bytes SRAM; 10-bit, up to 9 channel, 500 ksps Analog-to-Digital Converter; mTouch™ Capacitive Touch Sensing Peripheral; 2 Rail-to-Rail Comparators; and SPI, I²C™ and UART modules for serial communications.
Both PIC24F04KA201 16-bit family members are available now for general sampling and volume production, with prices starting at less than $.99 each in high volume. The 14-pin package options for the PIC24F04KA200 are: TSSOP and PDIP. The 20-pin package options for the PIC24F04KA201 are: QFN, SSOP, SOIC and PDIP.
