Microchip Technology recently announced an expansion of its 8-bit segmented LCD microcontroller (MCU) family with five new devices—the PIC16LF1902/3/4/6/7 MCUs. The PIC16LF190X family supports many general-purpose applications and enables the implementation of LCD into low-power and cost-sensitive designs, including medical devices. Featuring eXtreme Low Power (XLP) technology for sleep currents down to 20 nA, and a typical active current of 35 µA/MHz, the MCUs extend battery life, while maintaining accurate timing with a RTC and driving a segmented LCD.

Utilizing the company’s Enhanced Mid-range architecture, the PIC16LF190X family provides fundamental features and performance without burdening customers with the cost of unused peripherals. These MCUs provide an optimized feature set, including up to 14 kbytes of flash program memory, up to 512 bytes of RAM, up to 14 10-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) channels, serial communication, temperature indicator, and the ability to drive up to 116 LCD segments. With the addition of XLP technology for extended battery life, and capabilities such as utilizing the integrated temperature indicator to provide crystal-accuracy compensation, low-power RTC support and low voltage-detect support utilizing the internal ADC and voltage reference, the MCUs enable low-cost LCD solutions for a multitude of portable devices.

The PIC16LF190X MCUs are supported by the F1 evaluation kit and platform, as well as the PICkit 3 in-circuit debugger. Designers can also utilize the full suite of MPLAB development tools, including the MPLAB IDE, MPLAB ICD3, REAL ICE in-circuit emulator, and HI-TECH C compiler for PIC10/12/16 MCUs.

The PIC16LF1902, PIC16LF1903 and PIC16LF1906 MCUs are all available in 28-pin SPDIP, SOIC, SSOP and 4- by 4-mm UQFN and die packages. The PIC16LF1904 and PIC16LF1907 MCUs are available in 40-pin PDIP, 5- by 5-mm UQFN and die packages, as well as a 44-pin TQFP. Pricing starts at $0.75 each, in 10,000-unit quantities. Samples are available today.

Richard Nass