Embedded System Product News

Microchip PIC18F K90 Microcontrollers are Low Power with LCD Drive

June 1, 2010 - Microchip today announced the new Microchip PIC18F K90 family of 8-bit Flash microcontrollers. These new microcontrollers feature significant improvements to Microchip's nanoWatt XLP low power technology. Other significant features include a direct drive LCD peripheral, wide operational voltage, and a 12-bit ADC.

Microchip PIC18F K90 Block Diagram

Features of the new Microchip PIC18F K90 family include:

• PIC18 core executes one instruction every 4 clock cycles
• 1.8V to 5.5V Operating Voltage
• New Low Power Specifications:
  Sleep: down to 20nA
  Watchdog: down to 330nA
  RTCC: down to 700nA
  Low Power BOR: Down to 45nA
  Run Current slope: 75µA/MHz @ 1.8V
• Up to 128KBytes Flash
• Up to 4KBytes RAM
• Up to 1024Bytes on-chip Data EEPROM
• 10 Input Capture/Output Compare PWM Channels
• Up to 24 channels of 12-bit ADC ±2 LSB
• LCD Driver Module
  - Direct Drive of LCD
  - Up to 192 Pixels
  - Up to 4 Commons
  - Drives LCD pixels while in Sleep Mode
  - Programmable LCD Timing
  - Programmable Prescaler
• 2 SPI
• 2 I2C
• 2 EUSART
• 3 Comparators
• 64 or 80-pins

Target applications for the Microchip PIC18F K90 microcontrollers include thermostats, security systems, in-home displays, coffee makers, ranges, refrigerators; Industrial applications such as electronic door locks, metering, HVAC controls; Medical Devices such as pulse oximeters, glucometers, digital thermometers, and portable health-monitoring devices; and Automotive systems such as car alarms, remote keyless entry, dashboard displays and center-stack displays.

Microchip PIC18F K90 Microcontrollers

Microchip PIC18F K90 Development Tool Support
A Plug-In Module (PIM) for the PIC18F87K90 microcontroller is availablw now.  The PIM can be used with the PICDEM^TM LCD 2 Demo Board, or stand-alone in a custom application. engineers can also use Microchip‘s complete suite of standard development tools, including the free MPLAB IDE and emulators, programmers and development boards, along with the free MPLAB C or HI-TECH C® compiler for PIC18 microcontrollers.

Microchip PIC18F K90 Packaging, Pricing & Availability
The Microchip PIC18F K90 microcontrollerss are available in 64- and 80-pin TQFP and 64-pin QFN packages, with prices starting at $2.42 each in 10,000 unit quantities.  Samples and volume-production quantities are available now.

About Microchip Technology
"Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:  MCHP) is a leading provider of microcontroller and analog semiconductors, providing low-risk product development, lower total system cost and faster time to market for thousands of diverse customer applications worldwide.  Headquartered in Chandler, Ariz., Microchip offers outstanding technical support along with dependable delivery and quality."