OREANDA-NEWS. April 14, 2016. Seiko Epson Corporation (TSE: 6724, "Epson") has developed and recently begun shipping samples of three new models in the company's S1C17W series of low-power 16-bit microcontrollers with on-chip Flash memory. The new models are the S1C17W34, S1C17W35, and S1C17W36. Epson plans to produce 200,000 units per month of each model when volume production beings in October 2016.

Epson's original 16-bit microcontrollers with built-in Flash memory have proved to be a popular choice for embedding in mobile devices owing to their exceptionally low power consumption. The S1C17W series, which entered volume production in 2013, has been especially popular for use in digital watches because of low power consumption and liquid crystal driving capability.

Digital watches have been gaining an increasing number of features and functions in recent years. In addition to sensors for tracking activity and measuring things such as temperature, and altitude, many timepieces have also added GPS, Bluetooth® and other wireless features, so the amount of data processed by the microcontroller has steadily grown. The need for more on-chip microcontroller memory has increased commensurately. Also, since more watches now need to display more information, their LCD screens tend to be larger and have higher definition. These screens require high-resolution liquid crystal drivers.

The S1C17W36 meets these needs with 384 Kbytes of on-chip Flash memory, the most in the series, and an integrated liquid crystal driver that drives up to 2,084 dots. The low voltage and low current operation of the microcontrollers makes them ideally suited to customers who develop watches that are not designed to be recharged by users.

Since the integrated liquid crystal drivers are capable of driving LCDs with resolutions as high as 2,048 dots, displays can render crisp characters, graphs, and other graphics. The microcontroller has a built-in real-time clock that is capable of instantly calling up and displaying the time in cities in three different time zones. This feature has the benefit of lightening the load on the CPU and reducing program size. In addition to shipping in a 176-pin plastic package (QFP21-176), the microcontrollers will also be available as bare die to help users reduce the board area within their finished products.

The new microcontrollers provide customers with Flash memory size options. In addition to the S1C17W36, which has 384 Kbytes of memory, customers can choose the S1C17W34, which as 128 Kbytes of memory, or the S1C17W35, which has 256 Kbytes, depending on size requirements of control programs. In addition, the three new models are drop-in compatible and can be swapped for one another without any special settings. This interchangeability gives customers the flexibility to upgrade to a microcontroller with more Flash memory when, for example, the customer wants to add additional control programs.

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Notes:

  1. See the attachment for the features and specifications. PDF (38KB)
  2. Please see the link below for further details about these products.
    http://global.epson.com/products/semicon/products/mcu/16bit_index.html#ac08

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Epson is a global technology leader dedicated to connecting people, things and information with its original efficient, compact and precision technologies. With a lineup that ranges from inkjet printers and digital printing systems to 3LCD projectors, smart glasses, sensing systems and industrial robots, the company is focused on driving innovations and exceeding customer expectations in inkjet, visual communications, wearables and robotics.
Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the Epson Group comprises nearly 72,000 employees in 93 companies around the world, and is proud of its contributions to the communities in which it operates and its ongoing efforts to reduce environmental impacts.
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