Date: 16/04/2009

Atmel adds performance tag to 16-bit microcontroller

These days industry and engineers in embedded system domain generally talk about 8-bit or 32-bit microcontrollers, but here comes a 16-bit microcontroller, which Atmel claims offering 6x performance boost over similar competing 16-bit microcontrollers in the market.
Atmel's new picoPower AVR ATtiny10 packs 1 KB of programmable Flash memory, and 32 bytes of internal SRAM. With up to 12 MIPS of processing throughput, 8-bit A/D converter, analog comparator, and a 16-bit timer with PWM, this microcontroller is targeted at volume consumer applications.

"When you see the 2x3 mm SOT-23 package you get surprised by the high performance inside a small device. It houses an analog comparator, four A/D converter channels, a 16-bit timer counter that can run two phase and frequency correct PWM outputs, and last but not least a very powerful CPU," said Jukka Eskelinen, Director, tinyAVR Product Marketing. "If your application needs more processing power, lower current consumption, or if you just want a change the ATtiny10 is your solution."

Package: 2x3 mm SOT-23
Availability: Now in volumes
Price: Each 0.35 US$ for 10k pieces