Microchip expands its high-performance PIC32MZ family of 32-bit microcontroller (MCU) products

     Microchip Technology announced the expansion of its high-performance PIC32MZ family of 32-bit microcontroller (MCU) products. The new family of devices integrates a hardware floating-point unit (FPU) to enable both high performance and lower latency for intensive single - and double-precision computing applications.

     The PIC32MZ EF series features 48 new devices, each with a 12-bit 18-msps analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for a variety of high-speed, high-bandwidth applications. In addition, the PIC32MZ EF supports a broad set of DSP instructions. With a DSP instruction set, coupled with a double-precision FPU and a high-speed ADC, code density is greatly increased, latency is reduced, and performance is accelerated for process-intensive applications.

     The PIC32MZ EF series uses Imagination's MIPSM-Class core to deliver 200MHz/330 DMIPS and 3.28 CoreMarks/MHz performance. It also comes with field upgrade flash memory (up to 2MB) with dual storage areas, large capacity RAM (512KB) and the most complete range of connectivity peripheral options in the entire PIC32 portfolio, including a 10/100 Ethernet MAC, high-speed USB MAC/PHY and dual CAN ports. Many embedded applications require a better graphics display, and the PIC32MZ EF in the LCCG configuration supports a WQVGA display without the additional cost of an external graphics controller. This family of devices also offers a fully featured optional hardware encryption engine with a random number generator for high throughput data encryption/decryption and verification (such as AES, 3DES, SHA, MD5, and HMAC).

     Shrinking product cycles and rapidly changing customer needs are forcing designers to look for ways to accelerate their products to market. Microchip's award-winning MPLAB Harmony integrated software framework provides a modular, pre-tested, and easy-to-use GUI-based development ecosystem that simplifies integration, reduces testing, and quickly responds to rapidly changing market demands. This allows designers to focus more on product development itself.

     "The PIC32MZ EF is the second generation of the highly regarded PIC32MZ family of high-performance MCUS," said Rod Drake, vice president of Microchip's MCU32 division. With improved performance, floating-point units, larger flash memory capacity, multiple connectivity options and a rich set of peripherals, this new family of devices will help embedded developers meet the growing demands of a new generation of high-end applications. In addition, our MPLAB Harmony integrated software framework will accelerate software integration, product development cycles and time to market."