Low-power microcontroller offers 16-bit embedded flash memory.
This new microcontroller is Epson’s first single-chip MCU with embedded electrically erasable programmable read-only memory. It suits remote controlled home appliances such as air conditioners and small factory automation devices such as time switches and counters. The company plans to produce 200,000 units per month and has just started to ship samples.
Key features include embedded circuits to reduce the number of components in customersʼ products, save board space, and shrink software development times. The microcontroller offers embedded oscillator stability of ±1 per cent when operating at 16 MHz in an operating temperature range of 0 to 85 degrees C, an improvement over the ±1 per cent of the S1C17M3 at an operating temperature of 25 degrees C.
The supply voltage detector circuit does not require an external power supply supervisor. A universal port multiplexer allows software to select the input/output function to be assigned to each port. There are three types of serial communications interfaces, a generator circuit for infrared remote-control output signal and low-voltage and low-current consumption that extend battery life.
The microcontroller offers an operating range of 1.8V to 5.5V. Current consumption in sleep mode is 0.25-microA and power consumption in run mode is 170-microA/MHz.
Epson’s single-chip MCUs suit applications in a variety of small devices. A growing number of MCUs support low operating voltages only, but there is still a need in factory automation equipment and some home appliances for MCUs that support 5V operation.
To address this need, Epson began volume-producing the S1C17M3 series of MCUs with selectable operating voltages. The new S1C17M40 is considered the next-generation model in the S1C17M3 series, which is part of Epson’s expanding S1C17 family of MCUs with 16-bits of embedded flash memory.
