Freescale expands its Cortex M0+ MCUs with application specific enhancements

Freescale semiconductor has launched new MCUs based on ARM Cortex M0+, which include KL46 with segment LCD, USB and I2S , KL36 with segment LCD and I2S and KL34 with segment LCD only MCUs. They feature up to 256KB of flash memory, 32KB of SRAM extended memory, and are compatible with Freescale’s Kinetis K series devices, providing a migration path to DSP-level performance and advanced feature integration. Freescale suggests developers to move from their 8-bit 16-bit designs into this 32-bit platform for the performance and cost benefits. Applications suggested for this new MCU include products such as small appliances, gaming accessories and portable medical systems. The specific products include remote controls, thermostats, digital timers and handheld meters. The other general features include 48 MHz ARM Cortex-M0+ core, 292uA @ 4MHz typical power in very-low-power run (VLPR), Integrated analog peripherals such as A/D converters and comparators, and range of serial communications options including I2C, SPI and UART. Package options include:121MAPBGA, 64MAPBGA, 100LQFP and 64LQFP All these MCU are sampling now. They are priced in the range of $1.71 to dollar $2.73 in 10k quantities. There is a development kit available at a price of US$ 15. Freescale semiconductor as also added new ARM Cortex M0+ based microcontrollers for industry electronics applicatio...