Tiny Kinetis KL02 Microcontrollers from Freescale Now Broadly Available

Freescale Semiconductor is now shipping its Kinetis KL02 family of 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs), offering a new level of processing performance and energy efficiency for a range of applications and helping expand the Internet of Things (IoT). The tiny KL02 devices have a small appetite for power — six times more efficient than a leading competitor — making them ideal for ultra-small-form-factor and battery-powered products.

Applications may include portable consumer devices, sensing nodes, wearable devices and even ingestible healthcare sensing. As more of these products add intelligence and become part of the IoT ecosystem, designers need to maintain a small footprint, in terms of size and power consumption, while also delivering a level of connectivity users have come to expect from more traditional connected devices, such as tablets and smartphones.

“As the Internet of Things gains traction, the market is hungry for MCUs at a variety of sizes and price points that offer more processing horsepower without increased power consumption,” said Geoff Lees, vice president and general manager of Freescale’s MCU business. “With its incredibly efficient 36 uA/MHz low power RUN mode, the new KL02 family of MCUs is designed to meet those needs. By incorporating a tiny, energy-efficient, affordable Kinetis 32-bit ‘brain,’ devices that have typically been standalone and ‘dumb’ are ripe for connection to the rapidly expanding IoT.”

This announcement builds on the momentum Freescale has achieved with the Kinetis L series since its introduction in early 2012. The company currently has 66 Kinetis L series devices in its portfolio and expects nearly double that number this year. This expansion will provide application designers the industry’s largest MCU portfolio based on the ARM® Cortex™-M0+ processor, offering more than 110 ARM Powered® MCU choices with the most package options and greatest scalability.

The new KL02 family is the most energy-efficient offering within the Kinetis L series – the world’s most energy-efficient MCUs. Kinetis L series MCUs are powered by a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0+ processor, for which Freescale was a lead partner in definition and development. The Kinetis KL02 MCU family builds upon the energy efficiency of the Cortex-M0+ core and reduces the power consumption of the Kinetis L series to an even lower entry point.

The ultra-efficient KL02 family delivers 15.9 CM/mA* and, like the other Kinetis MCUs, includes autonomous, power-smart peripherals – in this case, an ADC, UART and timer, 10 flexible power modes and wide clock and power gating to minimise power loss. A low-power boot mode reduces power spikes during the boot sequence or deep-sleep wakeup. This is useful for systems in which battery chemistry limits the allowable peak current, such as those employing lithium-ion batteries frequently used in portable devices.

The Kinetis MKL02Z32VFM4 MCU (48 MHz, 32 KB) and MKL02Z16VFM4 (48 MHz, 16 KB) devices are available now at a suggested resale price of 75 cents (USD) in 100,000-unit quantities. In addition, 24-pin and 16-pin QFN packages are planned for Q3 availability. The smallest KL02 device, the MKL02Z32CAF4R chip-scale package (CSP) MCU, which was announced in February to rave reviews, is planned for availability in July. During the coming months, Freescale plans to further expand the Kinetis L series with additional flash memory and peripheral options.