Introduction and selection guide of mainstream microcontrollers in the market

Motorola (now Freescale) is the world's largest single-chip microcomputer manufacturer. Its characteristics are a full range of products, a wide range of choices, and many new products. In terms of 8-bit machines, there are 68HC05 and upgraded products 68HC08. 68HC05 has more than 30 series and more than 200 varieties, and the output has exceeded 2 billion pieces. The 8-bit enhanced single-chip microcomputer 68HC11 also has more than 30 varieties, with an annual output of more than 100 million pieces. The upgraded product is 68HC12. There are also more than ten varieties of 16-bit machines 68HC16. There are also dozens of varieties of 32-bit single-chip microcomputer 683XX series. In recent years, single-chip microcomputers with PowerPC, Coldfire, M.CORE, etc. as CPUs and DSP as auxiliary modules have been launched one after another. At present, it is still the first choice of single-chip microcomputers. One of the characteristics of Motorola single-chip microcomputers is that the clock frequency used at the same speed is much lower than that of Intel-type single-chip microcomputers, so that the high-frequency noise is low and the anti-interference ability is strong, which is more suitable for industrial control fields and harsh environments. Motorola's 8-bit microcontroller strategy used to be mask-based, but it recently launched an OTP program to adapt to the new trend of microcontroller development. On 32-bit machines, M.CORE outperforms ARM7 in both performance and power consumption. 

Microchip's Microship　 
microcontroller is the microcontroller with the fastest market share growth. Its main products are 16C series 8-bit microcontrollers, whose CPUs use RISC structure, have only 33 instructions, run fast, and are known for their low prices. The general price of microcontrollers is less than one dollar. Microship microcontrollers do not have mask products, and all are OTP devices. Microship emphasizes cost-saving optimization design, which is suitable for products with large usage, low grade, and price sensitivity.  

Scenix microcontrollers　 
Scenix microcontrollers have innovative I/O modules. The integration and combination technology of I/O modules is an important and indispensable aspect of microcontroller technology. In addition to traditional I/O function modules such as parallel I/O, URT, SPI, I2C, A/D, PWM, PLL, DTMF, etc., new I/O modules continue to emerge, such as USB, CAN, J1850, the most representative of which is the Motorola 32-bit microcontroller, which integrates I/O modules including various communication protocols, and the Scenix microcontroller introduces the new concept of virtual I/O in the processing of I/O modules. Scenix uses a RISC structure CPU, which makes the CPU's maximum operating frequency reach 50MHz. The computing speed is close to 50 MIPS. With a powerful CPU, various I/O functions can be simulated by software. The microcontroller package uses 20/28 pins. The company provides various I/O library functions to realize the functions of various I/O modules. These modules completed by software include multi-channel UART, multi-channel A/D, PWM, SPI, DTMF, FSK, LCD driver, etc. These are usually quite complex modules to implement in hardware. 

NEC MCU　 
NEC MCU is a self-contained system, with the highest output of 8-bit MCU 78K series, and also 16-bit and 32-bit MCU. MCUs above 16 bits use internal frequency multiplication technology to reduce the external clock frequency. Some MCUs use built-in operating systems. NEC's sales strategy focuses on serving major customers, and invests considerable technical resources to help major customers develop products. 

Toshiba MCU　 
Toshiba MCU is characterized by a complete range of 4-bit to 64-bit machines. 4-bit machines still have a large market in the field of home appliances. 8-bit machines mainly include 870 series, 90 series, etc. This type of MCU allows the use of slow mode, and the power consumption is reduced to the order of 10μA when using 32K clock. The use of multiple groups of registers inside the CPU makes interrupt response and processing faster. Toshiba's 32-bit MCU uses the CPU structure of MIPS 3000A RISC, targeting the VCD, digital camera, image processing and other markets. 

Fujitsu MCU　 
Fujitsu also has 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit MCUs, but the 8-bit MCU uses the CPU core of the 16-bit MCU. That is to say, the instructions used by the 8-bit MCU and the 16-bit MCU are the same, making development easier. The 8-bit MCU has the famous MB8900 series, and the 16-bit MCU has the MB90 series. Fujitsu focuses on serving large companies and large customers and helping them develop products. 


Epson MCU　 
Epson is well known for its expertise in manufacturing liquid crystal displays, so Epson MCUs are mainly used for LCDs produced by the company. The characteristic of its MCU is that the LCD driver part is particularly good. It is also very distinctive in terms of low voltage and low power consumption. At present, 0.9V powered MCUs have been launched on the market. In the near future, LCD display watch MCUs will use 0.5V power supply. The 

8051 type MCU　 
was first launched by Intel. The 8051/31 type MCU is also one of the most widely used MCUs in the world. Since Intel focuses on the development of high-end chips such as 186, 386, and Pentium that are compatible with PCs in terms of embedded applications, 8051-type microcontrollers are mainly produced by Philips, Samsung, Winbond and other companies. These companies have improved many features of 8051 (such as timing characteristics) while maintaining compatibility with 8051 microcontrollers. The speed has been increased, the clock frequency has been reduced, the dynamic range of the power supply voltage has been widened, and the product price has been reduced. 

Zilog microcontroller　 
Z8 microcontroller is a product of Zilog Company. It adopts a multi-accumulator structure and has strong interrupt processing capabilities. The product is OTP type, and the development tools of Z8 microcontroller can be said to be inexpensive and good quality. Z8 microcontroller is aimed at low-end applications with its low price advantage, mainly 18-pin package, and ROM is 0.5~2K. Recently, Zilog Company has launched the Z86 series of microcontrollers, which can integrate cheap DSP units. 


NS microcontroller　 
COP8 microcontroller is a product of National Semiconductor Corporation of the United States, which is famous for producing advanced analog circuits. It can produce high-level digital analog hybrid circuits. The COP8 microcontroller integrates a 16-bit A/D, which is rare in microcontrollers. The COP8 microcontroller uses an anti-EMI circuit inside, and has unique features in the watchdog circuit and the wake-up method of the microcontroller in STOP mode. In addition, the program encryption control of COP8 is also relatively good.    


Samsung microcontrollers　 
Samsung microcontrollers include KS51 and KS57 series 4-bit microcontrollers, KS86 and KS88 series 8-bit microcontrollers, KS17 series 16-bit microcontrollers and KS32, 32-bit microcontrollers. Samsung microcontrollers are OTP-type 1SP on-chip programming functions. Samsung is famous for producing memory chips. In the situation of oversupply in the memory market, it has entered the competition of microcontrollers. Samsung's microcontroller technology introduces and digests the technology of developed countries, produces compatible products, and then wins with price advantages. For example, NEC technology is used on 4-bit machines, Zilog Z8 technology is introduced on 8-bit machines, ARM7 core is purchased on 32-bit machines, and DEC technology and Toshiba technology are also used. The price of its single-chip microcomputer bare chip is quite competitive. 

Winbond single-chip microcomputer　 
Winbond single-chip microcomputer belongs to the 8051 type of single-chip microcomputer. Their W78 series is compatible with the standard 8051, and the W77 series is a bit enhanced 51 series, which improves the timing of 8051. The speed is increased by 2.5 times at the same clock frequency, and the FLASH capacity is increased from 4K to 64K, with ISP function. In terms of 4-bit single-chip microcomputers, Winbond has 921 series and 741 series with LCD driver. In terms of 32K machines, Winbond uses HP's PA-RISC single-chip microcomputer technology to produce low-bit 32-bit RISC single-chip microcomputers. 

In general, the microcontroller technology of famous American companies is still in a leading position, especially in high-end products, and high-performance microcontroller products are constantly being launched. Japan also has considerable advantages in the microcontroller manufacturing industry and is also actively competing for major customers of home appliances. Some companies in South Korea and Taiwan Province of my country have seized the Chinese market with low-priced compatible products on the basis of introducing and digesting American technology. So far, no company in mainland China has been able to occupy a place in such a huge microcontroller market, which can only be said to be the sadness of my country's electronics industry. On the other hand, such a dazzling variety of microcontrollers really provides engineers who apply microcontrollers with a huge choice space. The fact that so many types of microcontrollers can enter the Chinese market shows that our application engineers have been able to comprehensively consider the performance, price and other factors of various microcontrollers and make choices based on the application objects. Compared with the past thinking of analyzing and copying foreign products, there has been considerable improvement. With the growth of my country's economic strength, the weakness of the idea of ​​developing new products, which used to focus too much on price factors and made the development of new products not up to standard, has been improved, and attention has been paid to using the most advanced microcontrollers to develop high-end products. Since the development of single-chip microcomputers is still mainly based on simulators, whether a company can provide cheap simulators, convenient technical services and training is equally important as whether it can provide high-performance, low-priced single-chip microcomputers. Single-chip microcomputer manufacturers are also competing fiercely in development tools and technical services. This competition is complementary to the introduction of new single-chip microcomputers to show the advantages of high technology. The result of the competition is to provide single-chip microcomputer application engineers with a wider range of choices, and the ultimate beneficiaries are consumers of single-chip microcomputer products. Since single-chip microcomputers are useful in all walks of life, the progress of this electronic technology has led to the progress of all walks of life and also promoted the progress of human civilization.