On Semiconductor is moving into the microcontroller biz. It's new, low power Q32M210 Cortex-M3 micro (Fig. 1) incorporates a precision analog front end (AFE). It also brings a number of useful features to the table such as a more reliable flash subsystem with ECC support. It even has an uncommitted charge pump that can deliver up to 3.6V even with the system running on only 1.8V. This can be used to run the micro or other peripherals such as an LCD backlight.
The chip targets portable sensing and medical applications. The chip is available with up to 256 Kbytes flash with ECC support. The ECC support will be important in safety critical applications. The system also provides 48 Kbytes of SRAM.
The AFE highlights On Semiconductor's analog roots. It includes configurable, uncommitted op-amps and a low noise, dual channel 16-bit ADC. The ADC has a highly accurate voltage reference (under 50 PPM/°C, factory calibrated +/- 0.2%). There is a triple 8:1 mux for handling a wide range of sensors. The chip has a set of low resistance (under 5 ohms over full supply range) switches. There is a a bank of three10-bit DACs.
The chip requires less than 400uA/MHz. In sleep mode, the Q32M210 uses only 700nA even with the real time clock (RTC) running. A very long battery life, on the order of 640 hours, is possible.
Digital interfaces include the usual UART, dual-SPI/SQI, I2C, and I2S. There is a USB 2.0 full speed interface with integrated PHY. Likewise, the system has PWMs, RTC, watchdog timer, CRC support, an a 112-segment LCD interface.
The Q32M210 is available in a 10mm by 10mm, 140-pin TLLGA package (Fig. 2). Pricing starts at $4.99. KickStart edition development kits include a copy of IAR's Embedded Workbench.