Freescale: 8 b Controllers Drive More LCD Segments with Fewer Pins
November 17, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS
Freescale Semiconductor introduced three 8 b microcontroller (MCU) families designed to reduce system cost and power in liquid crystal display (LCD) based embedded applications.
The new Freescale LCD MCUs include the S08LL, RS08LA and RS08LE families. The L family devices offer LCD capabilities and ultra-low-power options at affordable price points, the company said.
The 8 b MCUs are designed to address a range of cost- and power-sensitive LCD-based designs, from battery-backed handheld devices to wireless systems.
Target applications include thermostats, meters, timers, security systems, rice cookers, coffee machines and other small consumer appliances.
L family MCUs can also be applied in personal diagnostic and portable health care products, such as glucose meters and pulse oximeters.
Freescale said the S08LL family is ideal for these applications due to its standby power consumption and multiplexed LCD driver functionality, which enables smaller designs with higher segment count.
Featuring an integrated LCD driver, L family MCUs eliminate the need for separate display driver integrated circuits (ICs) for both standard 3 volt (V) and 5 V LCD glass applications.
The on-chip LCD drivers support up to eight backplanes, enabling developers to drive more segments with fewer pins and thus reduce system cost and design complexity, Freescale said. The L family supports an LCD blink mode that operates without waking up the controller core.
The MC9S08LL16/8 devices combine an integrated LCD driver with low-power performance for embedded applications with LCD screens. The S08LL devices are designed to enhance portable performance, extend battery life and improve energy efficiency for a range of battery-operated applications and low-power devices, the company said.
The S08LL family's internally regulated voltage capability enables software contrast control, which aims to reduce the need for extra components and extend temperature and operating voltage ranges.
The LL16 supports a range of operation modes that can allow as low as 1.3 microamps to 6.1 microamps when it drives LCD displays.
Additional S08LL device features include:
- Two ultra-low-power stop modes.
- New low-power run and wait modes.
- Six microsecond wake-up time.
- Ultra-low-power oscillator.
- Configurable 8 x 24 or 4 x 28 segment display.
- Internal charge pump.
- Software-selectable frontplane and backplane.
The MC9RS08LA8 and MC9RS08LE4 families are based on the Freescale RS08 core and are intended for small appliances, medical monitoring equipment and other low-power industrial applications.
Features of the RS08LA and RS08LE families include:
- HCS08 instruction set with added background (BGND) instruction.
- Configurable displays.
- 8 x 21 or 4 x 25 (LA8).
- 8 x 14 or 4 x 18 (LE4).
- Power-saving ability to drive display while central processing unit (CPU) sleeps.
- Internal charge pump (LA8 only).
- Software-selectable frontplane and backplane.
- Pin and software compatibility.
The Freescale portfolio of software-configurable LCD devices offers pin compatibility options and shares peripherals for design flexibility. Pin compatibility between the S08LL and RS08LA families enables scalability for end applications with the option to use the S08 core with the LL family or the RS08 core with the LA family.
This compatibility provides a migration path to evaluate different performance options. Because the S08 and RS08 devices share the same LCD peripheral, developers can create software applications that are portable across the families, Freescale said.
Freescale L family MCUs are backed by an ecosystem of development tools, reference designs, application notes, software examples and Web casts. The L family devices are supported by a complimentary version of CodeWarrior development studio for microcontrollers v6.2, a tool suite that supports software development for Freescale 8 b or 32 b MCUs.
Developers can explore the features and capabilities of the L family devices with the Freescale DEMO9S08LL16, DEMO9RS08LA8 and DEMO9RS08LE4 evaluation systems.
The L family devices are sampling now.
Source: Freescale Semiconductor Inc.