Microcontrollers target battery-powered applications.

Press Release Summary:



Utilizing very low-power oscillator technology, Series MSP430F20xx delivers 500 nanoamp standby mode and is totally self-clocked with self-wakeup capability using no external components. Digitally controlled oscillator is programmable up to 16 MHz with ability to switch from standby to full operation in less than 1 µs. Operating from 1.8-3.6 V, microcontrollers enable fire detectors and thermostats to operate from same battery for more than 10 years.



Original Press Release:



TI MSP430 MCU First to Break 500 Nano-amp Barrier



New MSP430F20xx MCUs Deliver Ultra-low Power and High-performance- Ideal for Battery Powered Applications Needing Decade Long Operation

HOUSTON (October 18, 2005) - Continuing to demonstrate its leadership in ultra-low power microcontrollers (MCUs), Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN) announced today that the newest MSP430F20xx low pin-count, ultra-low power MCU series will deliver a 500 nanoamp standby mode utilizing unique very low-power oscillator (VLO) technology. The VLO technology allows the MSP430F20xx MCU to be totally self-clocked in an ultra-low power standby mode with self-wakeup capability using no external components. This enables systems such as fire detectors or home thermostats to operate from the same battery for over a decade. For more information on TI's ultra low power MCUs, see www.ti.com/msp430.

The industry leading 500 nanoamp standby is achieved with all device failsafe features active including zero-power brown-out reset (BOR) allowing both ultra-low power and extremely reliable systems. Prior to VLO, designers had been forced to use external crystals or oscillator circuits to achieve ultra-low power standby. Using no external components, the VLO reduces systems component count and costs as well as reducing space, all critical requirements for portable applications.

No Compromise Architecture
New MSP430F20xx MCUs offer a flexible clock system that allows fast operation of up to 16 MIPS with no external components using a digitally controlled oscillator (DCO). The DCO is fully programmable up to 16 MHz and stable over temperature and voltage with the ability to switch from standby to a fully operation in less than one micro-second. Ultra-low power standby combined with 16 MIPS in less than one micro-second allows high-performance systems to stay in standby longer allowing applications to conserve power and use smaller, lower cost batteries. If embedded real-time clock (RTC) function is required the F20xx MCU can also use a common 32 kHz crystal and achieve a standby mode of 0.7 microamps.

All F20xx devices operate from 1.8 to 3.6V allowing direct battery operation and are available in a 14-pin footprint as small as 4x4mm with 10 GPIO pins that include programmable pull-up/pull-down resistors that further eliminate external components. Designers can match their requirements to three pin-compatible F20xx MCU peripheral options that include an analog comparator for very cost sensitive applications, 200 kilosamples per second (KSPS) 10-bit analog to digital converter (ADC) for real-time signal processing or a 16-bit sigma-delta ADC for high-precision systems.

All devices include an enhanced watchdog timer for extreme reliability, a multi-function 16-bit timer and in-system programmable flash that provide greater design flexibility and field upgrade capability. With 128B of RAM and a full featured 16-bit RISC CPU, complete development in C and reuse of existing MSP430 instruction set architecture (ISA) libraries is supported to reduce time-to-market.

TI's MSP430 broad platform of MCUs answers market demands for ultra-low power applications including metering, portable instrumentation and intelligent sensing and enables new forms of embedded power supplies including solar, motion and heat.

Availability and Support
The MSP430F20xx uses existing MSP430 USB-based tool chains. TI will showcase the MSP430F20xx as well as other new MSP430 devices for the first time at the Advanced Technical Conference (ATC), the premier event for all MSP430 MCU developers. The ATC is held in November and December in Dallas, Texas, Landshut, Germany, Taiwan as well as China. For more information on the MSP430 ATC, see www.ti.com/atc05.

The MSP430F20x3 and MSP430F20x1 MCUs are sampling now with full production scheduled Q4 2005. The MSP430F20x2 MCUs will sample Q4 2005 with production early Q1 2006.

Device                 Flash          RAM            Analog              USI
MSP430F2001 1KB 128B Comparator
MSP430F2011 2KB 128B Comparator
MSP430F2002 1KB 128B 10-bit ADC ¼
MSP430F2012 2KB 128B 10-bit ADC ¼
MSP430F2003 1KB 128B 16-bit ADC ¼
MSP430F2013 2KB 128B 16-bit ADC ¼


TI Enables Innovation with Broad Range of Controllers
From ultra low power MSP430 devices and 32-bit general purpose TMS470 ARM7-based MCUs to high performance TMS320C2000(TM) digital signal controllers, TI offers designers the broadest range of embedded control solutions. Designers can also accelerate their design to market by tapping into TI's complete software and hardware tools, extensive third party offerings and technical support. For more information on the broad range of TI's controllers, see www.ti.com/mcu.

About TI
Texas Instruments Incorporated provides innovative DSP and analog technologies to meet our customers' real world signal processing requirements. In addition to Semiconductor, the company's businesses include Sensors & Controls, and Educational & Productivity Solutions. TI is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and has manufacturing, design or sales operations in more than 25 countries.

Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol TXN. More information is located on the World Wide Web at www.ti.com.

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