(Source: Business Wire)Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHP), a leading provider of microcontroller and analog semiconductors, today announced a new family of 8-bit PIC® microcontrollers (MCUs) featuring nanoWatt XLP technology, which enables extremely low sleep currents. The high-performance, low-power PIC18F13K22, PIC18LF13K22, PIC18F14K22 and PIC18LF14K22 (PIC18F1XK22) MCUs are available in 20-pin packages and provide 1.8 to 5.5V operation, with up to 16 Kbytes Flash program memory. The devices feature an enhanced peripheral set that includes support for mTouch capacitive touch sensing, and are well suited for a variety of general-purpose applications.

nanoWatt XLP technology allows the PIC18LF1XK22 MCUs to operate longer using less power, or with fewer battery changes, by enabling sleep current of 34 nA, typical at 1.8V; Timer1 oscillator currents of 800 nA, typical at 1.8V, 32 kHz; and Watchdog Timer currents of 300 nA, typical at 1.8V. Most low-power applications require one or more of these features, and nanoWatt XLP Technology combines all of them into one device in the "LF" versions of the PIC18F1XK22 family.

"Building upon the tremendous success of our 8-bit PIC18 and 16-bit PIC24 ˜K' series products, Microchip is pleased to expand the family of 8-bit PIC18 ˜K' devices that feature nanoWatt XLP technology and add 5V operation," said Steve Drehobl, vice president of Microchip's Security, Microcontroller and Technology Development Division. "With their small size and comprehensive feature set, the PIC18F1XK22 devices enable designers to create smaller, lower-power and higher-performing designs, at lower costs."

Features provided by the PIC18F1XK22 MCUs include:

64 MHz precision internal oscillator, which lowers total system costs by reducing the number of external components needed for complete designs

Master Synchronous Serial Port (MSSP) with SPI/I2C interface and address masking

12-channel, 10-bit Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC)

S/R-latch module that supports mTouch capacitive touch-sensing (up to 4 buttons)

Enhanced Capture/Compare/Pulse-Width Modulation [PWM (ECCP)] with steering capabilities

Dual rail-to-rail comparators

Programmable Brown Out Reset (BOR)

Low-power 1.8 to 5.5V operation, with full analog peripheral functionality

Small package options, including 4 mm x 4 mm QFN

Applications

The PIC18F1XK22 MCUs are appropriate for a wide variety of general-purpose applications.