Motorola adds 8-bit Flash microcontrollers

Austin, Tex. - Designers of appliance, consumer products, and industrial equipment will find it easier to develop lower-cost systems with new 8-bit Flash microcontrollers (MCU) announced today by Motorola's Semiconductor Products Sector.

By Control Engineering Staff April 4, 2002

Austin, Tex. – Designers of appliance, consumer products, and industrial equipment will find it easier to develop lower-cost systems with new 8-bit Flash microcontrollers (MCU) announced today by Motorola’s Semiconductor Products Sector . The 68HC908GT16 (GT16) and 68HC908GT8 (GT8), the latest members of Motorola’s 8-bit 68HC08 microcontroller family, integrate low-cost Flash memory for in-circuit and in-application programming flexibility, along with several analog functions including a highly accurate internal clock generator (ICG) that eliminates the need for external clock sources. These features help customers to reduce the number of components in their electronic systems, thus increasing reliability and reducing system costs.

‘Our customers in the appliance, consumer, and industrial markets continue to reap great benefits from Flash-based MCUs and continue to request new products to meet ever evolving system requirements,’ said Paul Grimme, corporate vp and general manager for Motorola’s 8/16-Bit Microcontroller Division. ‘These new microcontrollers give customers more choices and increased flexibility when designing with 8-Bit MCUs.’

The GT16/GT8 MCUs include an enhanced serial communications interface (ESCI) that provides support for Local Interconnect Network (LIN) applications. LIN is a low-cost, serial communications protocol for use in distributed networks in vehicles as well as radar detectors, industrial and home lighting equipment, home appliances, and sensors. This sub-bus solution complements Controller Area Networks (CAN), providing lower cost connection with local network clusters, and offering systems advantages of cost, flexibility, re-use and logistics.

Key features include:

Flash Memory – 8 and 16 Kbytes of Flash memory (for the GT8 & GT16 respectively)

Internal Clock Generator – Eliminates need for an external clock source, reduces overall system cost and provides improved accuracy across a range of temperature and voltage

Enhanced Asynchronous Serial Communication Interface (ESCI) – Supports LIN applications

Pin Compatible with Current GP Family Parts – The 68HC908GT16 is pin-for-pin compatible with Motorola’s 68HC08GP series devices, enabling scalable system design, and speeding time to market for customers who want to offer lower-end models of their products with fewer software features

Other Features – 512 bytes RAM; dual two-channel 16-bit timers, with programmable PWMs; 8 channel 8-bit A/D; synchronous serial peripheral interface (SPI); up to 36 I/O; Timebase Module with auto wake-up from STOP mode; 44-lead quad flat package (QFP) or 42-pin shrink dual inline package (SDIP) types; operating temperature range of -40 to +85 degrees Celsius; and a Low Voltage Inhibit (LVI) with selectable 3- and 5-volt trip points.

Motorola’s development tools are now available for the GT8 and GT16. In addition, Motorola offers system solutions that include chips, software libraries and example application code, comprehensive technical documentation, and engineering support. Software development tools for the 68HC08 family are also available from independent software vendors.

Hardware development tools from Motorola include the Modular Evaluation System (MMEVS); a real-time emulator kit with an in-circuit simulator; and the Modular Development System (MMDS) for high-performance, real-time emulation (including bus-state analysis). Motorola offers its In-Circuit Simulator (ICS) kit for low-cost, run-time emulation.

Control Engineering Daily News DeskGary A. Mintchell, senior editor gmintchell@cahners.com