Microchip : 16-bit MCUs claim lowest sleep current

Henri Arnold

April 30, 2009

Henri Arnold

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Microchip announces the PIC24F16KA family of 16-bit microcontrollers (MCUs) with new nanoWatt XLPTM eXtreme Low Power Technology. The PIC24F16KA family features the world’s lowest sleep current consumption microcontrollers, with typical sleep currents as low as 20nA. Low power, combined with integrated EEPROM in a small footprint and low pin-count package makes the four members of the PIC24F16KA MCU family ideal for battery powered, energy harvesting and other power-constrained applications.

The PIC24F16KA MCU’s 20nA sleep currents are achieved by isolating power to various circuits during sleep, with a fast wake-up time. The new nanoWatt XLP Technology gives designers the flexibility to customise their applications for the lowest power consumption through multiple internal wake-up sources, such as Real-Time Clock and Calendar alarm, Brown-Out Resets, interrupts and watch-dog timers, all while maintaining the I/O states.

Today’s portable products need to operate longer with less power and more functionality. Microchip’s new nanoWatt XLP microcontrollers contain features that are ideally suited for applications such as remote sensors powered by energy harvesting or sealed battery applications, which can run for more than 20 years from a single battery.

In addition to being ideal for low power and space constrained applications, the PIC24F16KA MCU family has high C-code efficiency and 16MIPS of computational horsepower, which makes it well suited for applications using advanced algorithms. In addition, the PIC24F16KA features two rail-to-rail comparators and an mTouchTM capacitive touch sensing peripheral, as well as SPI, I2C and two UART modules for serial communications. Example applications for the new PIC24F16KA MCUs will cross the medical, industrial and consumer markets.

Owners of the Explorer 16 development board can purchase a PIC24F16KA plug-in module (part number MA240017, $25), for development with this new 16-bit family.

The four PIC24F16KA 16-bit family members are available now for general sampling and volume production,.The 20-pin package options for the PIC24F08KA101 and PIC24F16KA101 MCUs are: QFN, SSOP, SOIC and PDIP. The 28-pin package options for the PIC24F08KA102 and PIC24F16KA102 MCUs are: QFN, SSOP, SOIC and SPDIP.

For additional information visit www.microchip.com/XLP.

David Wright, Microchip Technology. Tel: +44 118 921 5858 E-mail: david.wright@microchip.com

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Note: The above text is the public part of the press release obtained from the manufacturer (with minor modifications). EETimes Europe cannot be held responsible for the claims and statements made by the manufacturer. The text is intended as a supplement to the new product presentations in EETimes Europe magazine.

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