Microchip Technology recently announced the MEC14XX family of highly configurable low-power embedded controllers, which enables multiple I/O signals to be configured to support either 3.3 or 1.8 V and reduces materials cost by eliminating the need for external voltage translators.
Intended for for general x86 computing, the MEC14XX family also allow for a seamless migration of intellectual property (IP) reuse across multiple x86 computing platform architectures, including Intel Atom, Intel iCore and AMD-based systems. The devices are available with a choice of 128, 160, or 192 KB of closely coupled SRAM for code and data that loads from SPI-flash.
Each member of the MEC14XX family is based on Microchip’s 32-bit PIC MCU architecture and is supported by Microchip’s development tools. Examples include the MPLAB XC Compilers, the MPLAB REAL ICE In-Circuit Emulator (part # DV244005, $499), the MPLAB ICD 3 In-Circuit Debugger (part # DV164035, $199), and the PICkit 3 Starter Kit (part # DV164130, $64).
The MEC1404 (128-KB SRAM) and MEC1408 (192-KB SRAM) embedded controllers supporting the Intel LPC interface cost $1.68 each in 10,000-unit quantities. The MEC1418 (192-KB SRAM) embedded controller costs $2.05 in 10,000-unit quantities. All MEC14XX devices are available in a 128-VTQFP package.
Source: Microchip Technology
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