New tinyAVR MCUs - Lowering Power Consumption for Embedded Systems
2017-04-14 | By Maker.io Staff
Microchip has continued to increase its expansion of the AVR microcontroller product range with the addition of three new tinyAVR devices. The new ATtiny1617 series of MCUs expand the range of AVR devices that feature Core Independent Peripherals (CIP), which significantly helps increase the overall system throughput whilst lowering the power consumption even further. The three new MCUs also offer more memory options with newly integrated 16 KB of Flash, whilst keeping the pin and code compatibility with the recently released ATtiny817 series.
New generation of Tiny AVRs
The new MCUs offer 256 bytes of EEPROM and 2KB of RAM in a number of pin packages. The MCUs also retain similar features to the other portfolio of tinyAVR MCUs including the ESC (Event System Controller), which allows peripherals to communicate without using the CPU or system BUS. This allows professionals and makers to customize the configuration of the MCU for any given specific application, without putting too much load on the CPU, perfect for real-time applications. There is also an on-chip Peripheral Touch Controller, which simplifies the development of using capacitive touch systems, which are more commonly found in modern devices these days. Other features include a 20 MHz internal clock oscillator, high-speed serial communication with USART, SPI and I2C communication, a 10-bit ADC convertor with internal voltage references. The operating voltage of the MCUs range from 1.8 – 5.5V depending on different packages and also include the latest picoPower technology which offers a sleep current value of 100nA, which is ideal for remote and discrete devices in the field.
These new MCUs reiterate the growth and innovation in the AVR MCU market, more so now than ever before. The fact that microchip is still looking to expands its current portfolio of 8-bit AVRs says it all.
Have questions or comments? Continue the conversation on TechForum, DigiKey's online community and technical resource.
Visit TechForum