Microchip 28-pin LCD microcontroller

Microchip Technology (Microchip Technology, Inc.) recently released eight 8-bit PIC(r) microcontrollers with built-in liquid crystal display (LCD) modules. The new LCD PIC microcontroller series includes the world's first 28-pin LCD microcontroller, suitable for simple, cost-effective display applications that require embedded control, and the first 80-pin programmable microcontroller that can drive 192-segment LCDs, suitable for touch screen and segmented LCD display applications. This batch of new members of Microchip's LCD PIC microcontroller series adds product functions based on the original wide range of pin counts and performance levels in the series to meet the different needs of a variety of LCD segment displays.

Microchip LCD PIC microcontroller series is equipped with program flash memory, low power consumption and LCD control function. Compared with similar LCD microcontrollers on the market, its program flash memory greatly improves the flexibility of code development and field reprogramming. This series of microcontrollers is also equipped with nanowatt technology, which meets the industry's requirements for low-power design, including driving LCD displays in sleep state. The built-in LCD module of the new device can be configured through software, which can effectively reduce the number of system components and circuit board size, reducing system costs.

New devices with integrated LCD modules can be widely used in automobiles (such as instrument panel displays), measuring instruments (such as medical instruments and monitors, meter readers, handheld terminals/remote reading devices), household appliances (such as displays and controllers for stoves/ovens/microwave ovens), industrial fields (such as payment systems, water meters/gas meters/electricity meters/heat meters, fuel pumps), consumers (programmable thermostats or controllers, irrigation system controllers, home security systems and sports equipment) and communication equipment (mobile phone displays).

The high-pin-count PIC18F8490/8390/6490/6390 LCD family of microcontrollers has the performance and features required for embedded control, meeting the requirements for advanced display performance for segmented and touch-screen LCDs. These devices are available in 64- or 80-pin packages, and their built-in LCD driver modules can drive 128-192 segments of LCDs, respectively. Other features include:

* 8K to 16K bytes program flash and 768 bytes SRAM available
* Enhanced LCD module with 4 multiplex commons and up to 48 segment drivers
* NanoWatt Technology with 6 power management modes and a 32kHz-32MHz internal oscillator
* Core performance up to 10MIPS
* 10-bit analog-to-digital converter with up to 12 channels and 100ksps sampling rate
* Two analog comparators with programmable brown-out detection and programmable low-voltage detection
* Supports MI2C(tm) / SPI (tm), EUSART (supports LIN) and AUSART communication protocols
* 4 timers and 2 capture/compare/PWM modules

The cost-effective PIC16F917/916/914/913 LCD family of devices is available in 28- and 40/44-pin packages for simple, cost-constrained display applications that require embedded control. Its built-in driver can drive 60 to 96 segments of LCD. Other features include:

* Optional 7K to 14K bytes of program flash, up to 352 bytes of SRAM and 256 bytes of EEPROM data memory
* Enhanced LCD module with 4 multiplexed commons and up to 24 segment drivers
* NanoWatt Technology with multiple power management modes and an 8MHz internal oscillator
* Core performance of 5MIPS
* 10-bit analog-to-digital converter with up to 8 channels
* Two analog comparators
* Supports SPI, I2C and AUSART communication protocols
* 3 timers, 2 capture/compare/PWM modules and a watchdog timer

To shorten time to market, all eight MCUs are supported by Microchip 's standard high-performance development systems. These development systems include MPLAB(r) IDE (Integrated Development Environment), MPLAB C18 C Compiler, MPLAB ICD 2 In-Circuit Debugger and MPLAB ICE 2000/4000 In-Circuit Emulator. In addition, the PICDEM(tm) LCD Demonstration Board (Part Number: DM163028) and LCD Evaluation Kit are scheduled to be released in November, making it easier to develop products with the advanced LCD features of these new devices.

The PIC18FXX90 LCD microcontrollers are sampling now and in production. The PIC16F916 and PIC16F91 are sampling now and are scheduled to go into production in December. The PIC16F913 and PIC16F914 are expected to sample and go into production in the first quarter of 2005.