CURRENT ISSUE

Contests

bottom corner

Feature Article



Issue #204 July 2007
Are You Up for 16 Bits?
A look at Microchip's Family of 16 -Bit Microcontrollers
by Jeff Bachiochi

Start | Microchip's 16-Bit Family |Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe | PIC24F | PIC24H | Need DSP? | dsPIC30/33 | Standard Features | Peripheral Pin Select | DSP | DMA | Jump-Start PCBs | SMPS for $750 | Think, Enter, Win | Sources & PDF

8-bit (PIC10–18) 16-bit (PIC24) 16-bit (dsPIC30–33)
I/O 6 to 80 pins 18 to 100 pins 18 to 100 pins
Program memory 384 bytes to 128 KB 12 to 256 KB 12 to 256 KB
Data memory 16 bytes to 3,968 bytes 1 to 16 KB 1 to 16 KB
EEPROM 0 to 1 KB — 0 to 4 KB
Speed Up to 10 MIPS  Up to 40 MIPS Up to 40 MIPS
Communication peripherals UART, SPI, I2C, CAN, USB, LIN UART(1 to 2), SPI(1 to 2), I2C (1 to 2), CAN(0 to 2) UART(1 to 2), SPI(1 to 2), I2C (1 to 2), CAN(0 to 2)
Display peripherals LED, LCD — —
Control/timing peripherals Capture/compare, PWMs, counters/timers, watchdog timers Capture/compare (4 to 8), PWM (2 to 8), counter/timer (3 to 9), watchdog timer Capture/compare (4 to 8), PWM (2 to 8), counter/timer (3 to 9), watchdog timer
Analog peripherals ADC, comparator, op-amp, brownout detector, low-voltage detector, temperature sensor, oscillator, voltage reference, DAC ADC (1 to 2), comparator (2 to 3), brownout detector, low-voltage detector, oscillator, voltage references ADC (1 to 2), brownout detector, low-voltage detector, oscillator, voltage references
Additional peripherals — CRC generator, DMA, RTCC, JTAG CRC generator, DMA, RTCC, JTAG, codec (0–2), DSP
Cost (quantity) Less than $1 to $7 $3 to $7 $3 to $9
Table 1—Some peripherals appear the same across the 8-bit/16-bit boundary, but many of the 16-bit peripherals are enhanced and can be found in multiples.

 

 

 


bottom corner