Microchip Technology Expands Flash MCU Family for Enhanced Design Flexibility.

Business Editors

CHANDLER, Ariz.,--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 31, 2000

Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHP) Monday introduced the 28-pin PIC16F870 and 40-/44-pin PIC16F871 Flash microcontrollers (MCUs), expanding the popular PIC16F87X family of Flash devices to seven members.

&uot;Many engineers are designing products for emerging market applications where product specifications can change rapidly and upgrades in the field are required--Flash technology can be an ideal solution,&uot; said Joe Krawczyk, Microchip's product marketing manager.

&uot;Microchip is expanding the PIC16F87X Flash MCU family to provide these engineers maximum design flexibility. Users can easily migrate their PIC16F870 and PIC16F871 designs to an existing drop-in compatible PIC16F87X solution, offering 4K x 14 and 8K x 14 of Flash program memory expansion with 100% reuse of engineering resources for next-generation systems.&uot;

With 2K x 14 bits of cost-effective Flash memory and 64 bytes of EEPROM data memory, the PIC16F870 and PIC16F871 8-bit MCUs feature brownout detection, up to 5 MIPS performance at 20 MHz, USART communications capability for peripheral expansion, two 8-bit timers, one 16-bit timer and a wide operating voltage of 2.0-5.5 volts.

The PIC16F870 has a 5-channel 10-bit (+/- 1 LSB) A/D converter. The PIC16F871 features a 8-channel 10-bit (+/- 1 LSB) A/D converter and a parallel slave port.

Precision timing interfaces are accommodated with: capture at 12.5 nanoseconds maximum accuracy at 16-bit resolution, compare at 200 nanoseconds maximum accuracy at 16-bit resolution and pulse-width modulation at 20 kHz accuracy at 10-bit resolution.

Microchip's Flash technology features endurance performance of 1,000 erase/write cycles for program memory and 100,000 erase/write cycles for data EEPROM memory.

Applications for the PIC16F870 and PIC16F871 include networked communications, point-of-sale terminals, utility metering, programmable machine controls, power management and automotive body controllers. Smart sensors can use the enhanced serial communications port (SCI) that supports the RS-485 multidrop protocol used in distributed control.

A 2.0 volt minimum operating voltage makes the PIC16F870 and PIC16F871 ideal for battery-powered (DC) applications. The on-chip data EEPROM is ideal for storing calibration values, unique identification codes and diagnostic routines.

Microchip's PICmicro Flash and OTP MCUs feature In-Circuit Serial Programming(TM) (ICSP(TM)) technology, which allows the MCU to be programmed after being placed in a circuit board. This offers tremendous flexibility, reduces development time and manufacturing costs, and improves time to market.

ICSP technology also allows users to test and run circuit board diagnostics during the development process. Once the board is working, then the final product code can be downloaded into the system via the ICSP interface. Requiring only two I/O pins for most devices, Microchip offers the most non-intrusive programming.

The in-circuit debugging feature allows the designer to &uot;emulate&uot; the PIC16F870 and PIC16F871 MCUs without the need of an in-circuit emulator. The MCU itself is the &uot;emulator.&uot; The in-circuit debugging feature utilizes the ICSP interface, allowing the user to emulate and program the MCU through a single interface.

The devices, when used in in-circuit debugging mode, requires that two I/O pins be dedicated to debugging. These two pins are the same as the ones used for ICSP functionality. The in-circuit debugging interface also requires control of MCLR/VPP and VDD for reprogramming the device.

Flash-based MCUs will continue to grow in usage for applications where there is an existing communication infrastructure or planned infrastructure to support remote upgrades. The PIC16F870 and PIC16F871 enable self-programming from a remote location.

These devices accept data from an external source via a peripheral such as the on-chip USART. It then takes this data and writes into its own program memory and does so over the entire device operating voltage and frequency range.

These new Flash devices extend Microchip's Migratable Memory(TM) technology, providing engineers with the highest design flexibility possible using PICmicro microcontrollers. Migratable Memory technology provides socket and software compatibility among all equivalent ROM, OTP and Flash memory MCUs in the PICmicro family.

The Migratable Memory technology allows customers to match the selection of MCU memory technology to the product life cycle of their application, providing an easy migration path to a lower-cost solution whenever appropriate.

Microchip offers the MPLAB(R) In-Circuit Debugger (ICD) Evaluation Kit to support its PIC16F87X family of 8-bit Flash MCUs. MPLAB-ICD uses the in-circuit debugging capability of the PIC16F87X family and ICSP technology to debug source code in the application, debug hardware in real-time and program a target PIC16F87X device.

Operating under Microchip's MPLAB Integrated Development Environment (IDE), MPLAB-ICD offers real-time code execution, in-circuit debugging and built-in programmer. Components of the system include an in-circuit debugging module, header, demo board and MPLAB software. Pricing for MPLAB-ICD is $159.

In addition to the MPLAB-ICD Evaluation Kit, the PIC16F870 and PIC16F871 is supported by the MPLAB-ICE 2000 Universal In-Circuit Emulator. This high-performance real-time in-circuit emulator also features the sophisticated MPLAB-IDE.

Interchangeable processor modules and device adapters allow the emulator system to be easily configured to emulate different processors. MPLAB-ICE 2000 emulates voltages as low as 2.0V and can emulate at full speed.

Operating in the Microsoft Windows(R) environment, MPLAB-IDE gives users the flexibility to edit, compile and emulate all from a single user interface--at no additional cost. Pricing for MPLAB-ICE 2000 starts at $1,995.

Pricing and Availability

Available in SDIP, SOIC and SSOP packages, pricing in 1,000-unit quantities for the PIC16F870 (28-pin SDIP industrial temperature version) is $3.34 each and for the PIC16F870 (40-pin SDIP industrial temperature version) is $3.67 each. Samples are expected March 2000 with volume production planned for Summer 2000.

For more information, contact any Microchip sales representative or authorized worldwide distributor.

Microchip Technology Inc. manufactures the PICmicro(R) family of 8-bit RISC-based microcontrollers -- with OTP, Flash, and ROM memory technologies; serial EEPROMs; KEELOQ(R) code hopping devices; related microperipheral products including RFID, analog and system supervisor ICs; and other specialized semiconductor products.

These products target thousands of embedded control applications in the consumer, automotive, office automation, communications and industrial markets. Microchip's quality systems are ISO 9001 (1994 version) and QS-9000 (1998 version) certified.

Headquartered near Phoenix in Chandler, Microchip employs approximately 2,000 people worldwide and has sales offices throughout Asia, Europe, Japan and the Americas.

Note: The Microchip name and logo, PIC, PICmicro, MPLAB and KEELOQ are registered trademarks of Microchip Technology Inc. in the USA and other countries. Migratable Memory, ICSP and In-Circuit Serial Programming are trademarks of Microchip Technology Inc. in the USA and other countries. SPI is a registered trademark of Motorola. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.