TI Launches Ultra-Low Power Microcontroller for Smartphones

Oct. 17, 2013 - Texas Instruments (TI) has announced a new series of MSP430™ microcontrollers designed to significantly reduce power consumption in “always-on” applications, targeting devices like smartphones and tablets.

These new MSP430F525x MCUs are designed to allow for the creation of portable consumer devices capable of putting power-hungry application processors and touch screen controllers into standby mode, instead of constantly draining the device’s battery. This promises to extend battery life considerably.

MSP430F525x Microcontroller Features

• Extensive Serial Communication: 8 serial interfaces, comprising four I2C and four SPI modules for versatile connectivity.
• Flexible I/O: Up to 35 general-purpose I/O pins that can operate at a 1.8V voltage rail.
• Multiple Timers: Four 16-bit timers for precise timing and control applications.
• Analog to Digital Conversion: A 10-bit ADC (Analog-to-Digital Converter) for interfacing with analog sensors.
• Integrated Peripherals: DMA (Direct Memory Access), comparator, and a real-time clock module with alarm functionality.
• Hardware Multiplier: Dedicated hardware multiplier for efficient mathematical operations.
• Low Power Consumption: Active power consumption of 290uA/MHz when running from Flash memory and 150uA/MHz when running from RAM.