MCUs with core independent peripherals for increased design flexibility and lower system cost

Mouser is now stocking PIC18FxxK40 microcontrollers from Microchip Technology. The 8-bit microcontrollers combine flash, EEPROM, and RAM memory; rich peripheral integration; and eXtreme Low-Power (XLP) features to suit a variety of general-purpose and low-power applications. The cost-optimized devices deliver Microchip’s Core Independent Peripherals to provide for increased design flexibility and lower system cost. The microcontrollers are the first in the PIC18 family to offer Microchip’s CIPs, which are designed to handle tasks without code or supervision from the CPU to maintain operations. As a result, CIPs simplify the implementation of complex control systems and give designers the flexibility to innovate. The microcontrollers provide up to 128Kbytes of flash memory, 3728bytes of data SRAM, and 1024 bytes of data EEPROM as well as extensive peripheral integration. The devices include up to seven PWM modules and multiple communications interfaces. Additionally, the microcontrollers offer the company’s Intelligent Analog peripherals, including Zero Cross Detect, on-chip comparator, and an analog-to-digital converter with computation (ADCC). The ADCC handles the signal analysis functions of averaging, filtering, oversampling and automatic threshold comparison independent of the CPU. The microcontrollers are supported by the Curiosity High Pin Count board and their established software development platforms including MPLAB Code Configurator, MPLAB X IDE, XC8 Complier, and new cloud-based MPLAB Xpress IDE. The devices are well suited for a broad range of applications and market segments, including touch sensing, industrial control, consumer, automotive, and IoT.