Date: 15/09/2010

16-bit microcontroller from TI operates from single 1.5V battery

Texas Instruments has unveiled 0.9-V 16-bit microcontroller (MCU), the MSP430L092, the newest addition to the ultra-low-power MSP430 MCU portfolio. Texas Instruments claims this is the industry's first true 0.9-V microcontroller (MCU). TI's MSP430L092 MCU inherently operates at 0.9-V, including the entire analog and digital logic and hence eliminates the need for an on-board boost converter. Such low voltage operation help the MCU device to get powered by single 1.5V alkaline battery to run applications such as electric toothbrushes, razors, toys and security devices.

Key features of the MSP430L092 includes:
--Three 0.9-V MCU variations - MSP430L092 (RAM), MSP430C091 (ROM) and MSP430C092 (ROM) - with up to 2KB RAM and 2KB ROM
--Integrated Analog Functions Pool (A-POOL) can serve as an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), digital-to-analog converter (DAC), system voltage supervisor (SVS), temperature sensor or comparator
--Programmable A-POOL enables the various analog peripheral configurations to run sequentially without user interaction
--Low-power consumption of 45 microamps (active) and wake-up time of less than 5 microseconds.

Price: Each US$0.85 for 10K pieces

Availability: Now