Microchip Hardware Products
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This page was added to help our readers start working with other Microchip controllers, in addition to the dsPIC family, after studying Learn Hardware Firmware and Software Design. In order to select your Microchip Product, you need to download Microchip Product Selector Guide--it is issued quarterly by Microchip, and it is a PDF file. For example the last one is named 0014811.pdf. That document is important because you can identify which products are implemented in production, and those that are future products. Microchip site presents all products they have, or they work on developing, but some are not yet implemented, and it is possible they will never be. In order to select you next Microchip controller follow this steps: 1. Define your application 2. Select controller's speed 3. Select controller's package 4. Consult prices and availability 5. Redesign your application if needed; do not hesitate to implement drastic changes, such as using two smaller controllers instead of a big one, or vice versa 6. Consider the firmware development tools needed 7. Check additional Microchip products 8. Narrow your selection to 3..4 options and analyze each of them carefully, according to the steps above. Next, decide on one controller. |
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The first thing to do is to define your application. If you are unclear about that, Microchip has a huge library of Application Notes sorted by: 1. Function 2. Product Family 3. Application 4. Application Notes You need to work with the above links a lot, in order to select the best controller for your application. Of course, you will end up with many possible alternatives, and you need to corner them down.
Many controllers are capable of working with TCP/IP, and some models are specifically designed for that. Once you discover the right controller for your application, you need to download and study its Data Sheet, and the Data Sheet of the Family that controller belongs to. |
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The most important aspect of a controller is its speed expressed in MIPS for Microchip controllers, or in MHz--(MIPS is equal to MHz/4). The faster is your controller the better things are. LHFSD was published in 2005 and it was written for the fastest products available at that time: dsPI30F family working at 30 MIPS. At this time LHFSD book is still the only book in the entire world dealing successfully with dsPIC controllers. However, in 2006 two new families of controllers working at 40 MIPS have been issued at Microchip: dsPIC33F and PIC24H. That calls for a new book; right? DHFST was scheduled to be published in 2007, though we may have to delay that for a while. Anyway, it is coming. 1. link to dsPIC33F family 2. link to PIC24 family |
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As explained in LHFSD the package (footprint) of a controller is very important. It happens that handling SM components is both difficult and expensive. For development, it is preferable to work with Through-Hole technology and with sockets for quick replacement. However, not all SM packages are above modest developers capabilities. For example, you could easily work with SOIC footprints (packages), except the replacement operation will destroy the processor. Another option is to use specially designed sockets to handle SM controllers: this is both expensive, and it comes with plenty of stray capacitance. The trend is, all components would be SM in the future, and their DC logic voltage will drop to 1.5 V. As developers, we need to come with smart, intelligent solutions to deal with that aspect. |
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Microchip displays all products they have, including those that are in Development. The last category may take one year or more before they are fully implemented in production. In addition, once implemented in production it takes at least one more year of field trials for a product to become "mature". (dsPIC30F4011 implemented in LHFSD is a mature product at this time Oct. 2007) Controllers' price is a major decisional factor when developing a new product, because they are not quite cheap. I order to be competitive these days, the price of a commercial product needs to be very low. The prices listed in Microchip web pages are for volume orders. Microchip sales directly few products: most of them are sold through distributors, as is Digi-Key. There you are going to discover the price of a controller is almost double the price listed in Microchip's web pages. That's the way things are, and you need to investigate those issues thoroughly before deciding on the next controller for your commercial product. It is best to use controllers that are newer generations, because the old ones may become obsolete, as it happened to the entire C17 family. If you intend to use a future controller for Development, you could get in contact with Microchip and try making a deal with them. Sometimes that is possible, but many times it is not; however, it is worth a try. |
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If you cannot find the exact controller that will "fit" your design, do not despair. There are ways around, and the easiest option is to use two or more smaller controllers instead of one, main, and very powerful. As explained in LHFSD never hesitate to change your design while you can do it. Once the PCB is done, it is going to be there forever, or for a good while. Do not forget that the power of controllers is in firmware. Try implementing more functionality in firmware rather than in hardware. |
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Now, the development tools we use play an important role when deciding to develop hardware and firmware for one specific controller. Particular to microcontroller hardware design, the tools may be quite expensive, and the reason behind that is, you end up with a commercial product which could bring excellent benefits! It is only up to you to design a "wonder" product and become a millionaire overnight! The vast majority of the developers are struggling hard to save on money they invest on tools. Consequently, we can differentiate controllers as being: 1. Flash programmable, using ICD2 tool 2. Non-Flash programmable ICD2 is a cheap option, and it works for most Microchip controllers. Truth is, Microchip started expanding their business exponentially once they came out with this ICD2 Serial Programmer. Therefore, almost all Microchip controllers have Flash memory and they are compatible with ICD2--which is very! I recommended in LHFSD the use of C programming language when developing controllers, and you have few options. I will be very brief on this topic because it is developed in a separate web page page. So, you could use either C18, or C30 to write firmware for Microchip Controllers. Both of them come with 60 days free trial periods in Student Versions: 1. Link to C18 Student Version compiler 2. Link to C30 Student Version compiler The second compiler allows you to experiment with all firmware programs presented in LHFSD. Further from there, you need to decide on buying it. Personally, I consider C30 a very good investment. For the time being C30 works only for dsPIC30F, PIC24, and dsPIC33, though it is the only tool developed actively at Microchip. That is very good news, and it brings additional, strong reasons for purchasing C30. |
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Microchip has more good products in addition to controllers, and they are listed briefly in the following table:
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