Called ATtiny104, it has 1kbyte of self-programming flash. “We have added self-programming flash, something we hadn’t done on low end devices before,” product marketing manager Rune Staveli Kvernland told Electronics Weekly, adding that the process had been tweaked to allow programming right across 1.8 to 5.5V supplies.

It has a built-in 8MHz oscillator, accurate to +/-3% with some caveats, and can work up to 12MHz (12mips) with an external oscillator. This can feed up to two PWM channels.

Analogue measurement capability comes from a 10 ADC that delivers up to 15ksample/s from up to eight pins.

To calibrate this, these are three voltage references: 1.1V, 2.2V and 4.3V, for measurements with +/-3% accuracy. The latter two are intended for measuring alkaline (or NiMH) cells, or Li-ion cells respectively. While this accuracy is not good enough for high-end Li-ion charging, admits Atmel, it is fine if the application can accept a little less than 100% charge and discharge.

“The majority of today’s 8bit market growth is coming from applications that previously only required discrete components. With many of these new applications requiring simple intelligent functions including timing, motor control or on/off functionality, 8bit MCUs are becoming an essential feature for the personal healthcare, small kitchen appliance and consumer markets,” said Atmel.

To go along with the chip, there is the ‘Xplained Nano’ evaluation kit (pictured) which includes access to all I/O, one push button and one LED plus a USB interface for programming and debugging.

ATtiny102 is a similar microcontroller, with less memory.

Applications including logic replacement are foreseen. “With many of these new applications requiring simple intelligent functions including timing, motor control or on/off functionality, 8-bit MCUs are becoming an essential feature for the personal healthcare, small kitchen appliance and consumer markets,” said Atmel.

• 1kbyte flash
• 32bytes SRAM
• 8- and 14-pin packages down to 2mm x 3mm in size
• Up to 12 MIPS at 12MHz
• Self-programmable flash
• ±3% internal oscillator
• 1.1, 2.2 and 4.3V calibrated internal references
• 10-bytes unique ID / serial number
• USART
• 10bit ADC
• analogue comparator
• 1.8V to 5.5V operation
• -40 to +105°C operation (-40 to +125°C option)
• engineering samples now