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picoPower

In addition to the low leakage currents, megaAVR devices are also designed for ”true 1.8V operation.” Meaning that all peripherals, memories and protection mechanisms on the microcontroller are fully functional down to 1.8V. Many of Microchip's competitors offer devices with partial functionality down to 1.8V, but this presents many application challenges. If the Flash or Analog-to-Digital converter does not work down to the cut-off voltage, there is no way to monitor the supply voltage as it approaches cut-off. Consequently, the MCU cannot store application information to nonvolatile memory before power is lost, which is necessary to ensure that the application starts up where it left off when the batteries are recharged or replaced. There is also a power-saving advantage to true 1.8V operation, reducing the operating voltage of the application is one of the most efficient ways to reduce the active mode power consumption.

PTM Published on: 2011-12-05