Microchip introduces a new line of highly configurable, low-power embedded controllers

     Microchip Technology announced the introduction of its new MEC14XX family of embedded controllers, a highly configurable, low-power product designed to meet the needs of designers developing notebook and tablet platforms based on x86 architecture.

     The MEC14XX family of extendable devices is one of the first to support both Intel's new Enhanced Serial Peripheral Interface (eSPI) and the existing Low Pin Count Interface (LPC). To ease the mobile computing industry's transition to new interfaces and low-voltage designs, Microchip's MEC14XX family of products has adopted a flexible arrangement that allows multiple I/O signals to be configured to simultaneously support 3.3V or 1.8V operation, eliminating the need for an external voltage converter, thereby reducing the BOM(Bill of Materials) cost of the system.

     Ahmad Zaidi, vice president/general manager of Intel's Embedded IP Subsystems and Chipsets division, said: "Microchip's collaboration with Intel to co-develop and validate the product can help ensure that the new eSPI interface will be used as planned in the next generation product family of Intel platforms."

     The MEC14XX family of devices also enables seamless migration of IP(intellectual property) reuse across multiple x86 computing platform architectures, including systems based on Intel Atom™, Intel iCore™, and AMD processors. It is also Microchip's first family of embedded controllers designed specifically for the general-purpose x86 computing architecture and supported by Microchip's award-winning MPLAB development tools.

     "Working closely with industry partners and customers, Microchip has been at the forefront of the interface development, implementation and validation of the new eSPI system," said Ian Harris, Microchip's vice President of Computing Products. Although the current LPC interface has served the computing market for more than 15 years, it has gradually revealed its limitations due to the continuous transition of computing platforms to low voltage and the decreasing lithographic size of devices. We are proud of Microchip's contribution to the rollout of the new eSPI interface and look forward to meeting the needs of the market even better in the future."

     The MEC14XX family of devices provides tightly coupled SRAM for loading code and data from SPI flash memory in 128 KB, 160 KB, or 192 KB capacities. Designers can use host SPI flash memory (for BIOS storage) for non-volatile EC firmware storage to provide a cost-effective system solution. Microchip introduced the MEC140X family of devices supporting the LPC interface along with the MEC1418 device supporting both the LPC and eSPI interface, which allows designers to select the most cost-effective device to develop a specific platform. It also allows manufacturers to better protect their investments during periods of industry change. The pins and registers of Microchip's MEC14XX series are compatible with each other.