Microchip has expanded its eXtreme low power microcontrollers with the PIC24F ‘GA3’ family, featuring what it claims to be the lowest active current for 16-bit flash MCUs, as well as several flexible new low power sleep modes.
The devices feature 150 µA/MHz active current as well as six DMA channels, which allow a routine to be executed with less power consumption and increased throughput.
The family adds a low-power sleep mode with RAM retention down to 330 nA. Additionally, these are said to be the first PIC MCUs with VBAT for battery backup of the on-chip, real-time clock calendar.
With these features, plus an integrated LCD driver and numerous other peripherals, the devices enable more efficient, less expensive designs.
The MCUs enable maximum battery life by reducing the overall power that the application consumes. To allow the application's real-time clock to continue running when primary power is removed, a VBAT pin can be used to supply backup power with 400 nA. Additionally, the transition from VDD to the VBAT supply pin occurs automatically as VDD is removed.
The integrated LCD display driver can drive up to 480 segments, with an eight-common-drive capability, enabling more informative and flexible displays.
The MCUs also include a charge time measurement unit with a constant current source that can be used for mTouch capacitive sensing, ultrasonic flow measurement and many other sensors.
The on-chip, 12-bit ADC features threshold detection and works in conjunction with the CTMU to perform proximity sensing while in sleep, to further reduce power consumption.
The company has also announced the PIC24FJ128GA310 plug-in module for the Explorer 16 development board.
