Smallest microcontroller has eight connections on 1.38 square millimeters
The TI MSPM0C1104 accommodates the 32-bit ARM Cortex-M0+ core, 1 KByte RAM and 16 KByte flash on 1.6 mm Ă— 0.861 mm.
TI MSPM0C1104 microcontroller in a housing measuring 1.6 Ă— 0.861 millimeters.
(Image: TI)
There is very little space in some devices, for example in smartwatches, in-ear headphones, AR glasses, medical probes or digital input pens. Texas Instruments (TI) is launching even smaller versions of its MSPM0 microcontroller series for such applications: the smallest version of the MSPM0C1104 with eight connections is housed in a package with edge lengths of 1.6 millimetres and 0.861 millimetres. TI squeezes an ARM Cortex-M0+, 1 KByte SRAM, 16 KByte flash memory, an analog-to-digital converter (12-bit ADC), SPI and I2C into this area of just under 1.38 square millimeters.
According to TI, the MSPM0C1104 is 38 percent smaller than the smallest microcontroller to date, although TI does not name it. The NXP Kinetis KL03 –, also with Cortex-M0+ –, measures 1.6 mm × 2.0 mm, while the Huada HCL32L110 will be available in 1.6 mm × 1.4 mm.
Two further housing variants
The TI MSPM0C1104 with eight connections is also available in two other housing variants with 4 and 8.12 square millimeters; the smallest version with 16 connections is housed on 8.4 square millimeters.
The 32-bit computing core in the MSPM0C1104 runs at up to 24 MHz. The target price for orders of 1000 units or more is 20 US cents per unit excluding VAT.
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TI will be exhibiting the MSPM0C1104 at the embedded world trade fair in Nuremberg from Tuesday.
(ciw)
