Microchip Technology Inc. announced its next generation AVR DA family of microcontrollers (MCUs), its first Functional Safety Ready AVR MCU family with Peripheral Touch Controller (PTC). 

Software support includes Microchip’s MPLAB X, MPLAB Xpress and Atmel Studio, code configuration tools including MCC and START, and compilers including GCC, XC8, and the IAR Embedded Workbench. Hardware support is included in debuggers/programmers including MPLAB PICkit 4, MPLAB SNAP, Atmel ICE, and the AVR128DA48 Curiosity Nano evaluation kit.

Microchip’s Functional Safety Ready designation is applied to devices that incorporate the latest safety features and are supported by safety manuals, Failure Modes, Effects, and Diagnostic Analysis (FMEDA) reports, and in some cases, diagnostic software.

The AVR DA MCU family includes integrated safety functions such as, power-on reset, brown-out detector, and voltage-level monitor. The cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scan ensures the application code in the flash memory is valid.

Microchip’s new AVR DA family of MCUs enables CPU speeds of 24 MHz over the full supply voltage range, memory density of up to 128 KB flash, 16 KB SRAM and 512 bytes of EEPROM, 12-bit differential ADC, 10-bit DAC, analog comparators, and zero cross detectors. The PTC enables capacitive touch interface designs supporting buttons, sliders, wheels, touchpads, smaller touch screens, as well as gesture controls. The AVR DA family of MCUs supports up to 46 self-capacitance and 529 mutual capacitive touch channels. It also features the latest generation PTC with Driven Shield+ and boost mode technologies providing enhanced noise immunity, water tolerance, touch sensitivity, and response time.

The integrated event system enables inter-peripheral communication without involving the CPU. According to the company, events are latency free and never lost. By reducing the time the CPU needs to be active, the power consumption of the application is reduced.

The configurable custom logic peripheral enables the setup of logical functions internally. With analog features like the 12-bit differential ADC, the AVR DA family of MCUs can measure small amplitude signals in noisy environments, making them well suited for sensor node applications in harsh environments.

The AVR DA family of MCUs’ memory density and SRAM-to-flash ratio make it ideal for both wireless and wired connected sensor nodes, as well as other stack-intensive applications.

The AVR DA family of MCUs is available in volume production in 10,000 quantities starting at $0.87. 

For more information, visit: www.microchip.com.