Microchip Technology, the Chandler, Arizona-based provider of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and Flash-IP solutions, said on Thursday that it is expanding its 8-bit PIC microcontrollers (MCUs) with the introduction of Core-Independent Peripherals (CIPs).

Designers can combine these elements to achieve autonomous application performance, and they can be interconnected with an increasing amount of integrated Intelligent Analog peripherals. Because the functions are performed in hardware instead of software, CIPs enable system performance beyond that of traditional MCUs.

Microchip is also releasing the latest version of its MPLAB Code Configurator (MCC), 3.0, to further reduce development time with next-generation MCUs, along with several additional products that collectively can reduce design time significantly. All tools are designed to function with Microchip’s existing development environment.

"For the last 20 years, most 8-bit MCU vendors have continued to release new products with essentially the same product-feature approach," Steve Drehobl, vice president of Microchip's MCU8 Division, said. "Add memory, expand pin count, increase the clock speed and add more of the same peripherals. But embedded system design has changed, and now even the smallest applications have increased in complexity. We evolved the peripherals on our 8-bit PIC MCUs to be more deterministic and autonomous, so our customers can react quickly to changing market conditions with minimal code rewrites and very short validation cycles."

Microchip Technology products and solutions provide low-risk product development, lower total system cost and faster time to market for thousands of diverse customer applications worldwide. Microchip offers outstanding technical support, along with dependable delivery and quality.