Microchip Releases Multiple PIC and AVR MCU Products for Today's Mainstream Embedded Designs

     In 2022, Microchip's 8-bit PIC and AVR microcontroller (MCU) families will expand market share as smartphones, autonomous vehicles and 5G wireless connectivity dominate the embedded design market. The 8-bit MCU market has grown steadily over the past 50 years, with Microchip selling the equivalent of one per person in the Western Hemisphere each year. To support continued growth, Microchip Technology Inc. announced five new product families and more than 60 new stand-alone devices that provide embedded designers with simple solutions to the most common problems.

     Designers looking for innovative designs are turning to Microchip's new line of PIC and AVR microcontrollers. These new products have powerful processing power, can easily communicate with other chips and analog peripherals, and can be built with no printed circuit board (PCB) changes for ultra-robust configuration. Combining ASIC-like functionality with a simple development experience, these devices extend the capabilities of traditional MCUs and allow them to be configured as smart peripheral chips. Smart peripherals like software-controlled op amps, multi-voltage input/output (MVIO), and analog-to-digital converters (ADCC) in the PIC16F171 family bring new value to applications that would otherwise not use traditional MCUs.

     Systems using chips with different supply voltages often need to span multiple voltage domains (eg, connecting a 5V MCU to a 1.8V sensor). Such systems often require level-shifting hardware, which increases cost. The MVIO peripheral in Microchip's latest 8-bit MCUs, including the AVR DD family, allows a single port on the MCU to operate in a different voltage domain than the rest of the MCU, eliminating the need for additional external components.
Some systems require a level of speed and response time that is difficult to achieve with software-based processing. The Core Independent Peripherals (CIPs) of Microchip's PIC and AVR product families can be programmed with the MPLAB Code Configurator (MCC) for easy connection to form hardware processing chains. This makes it possible to create custom peripherals, eliminating the cycle time of software processing. For example, an array of WS2812 LEDs that require unique timing to be properly driven can be easily controlled by configuring a super peripheral consisting of a pulse width modulator (PWM), an SPI interface, and a configurable logic cell (CLC).

     As the market for 8-bit PIC and AVR MCU devices continues to grow, Microchip continues to respond to customers' long-term needs by maintaining strong fundamentals in its product portfolio and support structure. PIC and AVR MCUs are very easy to design into and their support network enables Microchip customers to reduce time to benefits. The 8-bit MCU portfolio is pin-to-pin compatible, allowing for alternative PIC or AVR options when higher performance is required or when customers want to maximize product availability while minimizing redesign requirements MCU.

     "PIC and AVR MCUs are very popular and are designed to meet the requirements of our customers for current and future applications," said Greg Robinson, vice president of marketing for Microchip's 8-bit microcontroller business unit. "We have also built a strong portfolio of 8-bit PIC and AVR MCUs. The supply chain, for the most part, is produced in Microchip's own factories. This allows us to control the production process in a way not often seen in the industry."