[By NBC-1TV H. J Yook]Freescale Semiconductor (NYSE: FSL) today announced two new families of five-volt (5V) 8-bit microcontrollers (MCUs) with excellent durability and reliability for industrial and automotive applications. Scalable and compatible with existing devices, these easy-to-use, entry-level MCUs are designed to help OEMs get to market quicker with a lower bill of materials.

The S08P MCU family contains three classes of devices (PT, PA and PL) and is compliant with the IEC-60730 safety standard for household appliances. It delivers exceptional electrical fast transient/electrostatic discharge (EFT/ESD) performance to withstand the harsh and noisy environments of appliances, uninterruptable power supplies, HVAC systems, smart lighting and building controls, smart meters and general industrial control applications.

The S08RN MCU family is AEC-Q100-compliant and qualified up to 125°C ambient temperatures. With advanced mixed-signal features tailored for automotive applications, the S08RN family is ideally suited for touch control, lighting, power conversion/motor control, LIN nodes, sensor or actuator nodes and other electronics applications within the vehicle.

Freescale’s newest entry-level MCU families are built using the efficient S08 core, as well as IP and tools common to previous generations. A consistent pinout across a 2K to 60 KB portfolio and a large selection of package options contribute to an easy migration path and reduced R&D expenses. An open source background debug module supplies cost-effective programming and debugging, while an improved, smart pinout with adjacent power and ground enables inexpensive and simplified single-side printed circuit board design.

“Our cost-effective new S08 families provide the improved EMC performance and safety compliance critical for today’s harsh industrial and automotive environments,” said Jeff Bock, director of marketing for Freescale’s Industrial and Multi-Market Microcontroller business. “We’re providing durable and reliable performance for our customers, while helping simplify and shorten their design cycles.”

The S08P and S08RN families allow system designers to choose from a number of options to balance features and cost. Filtering on I/O pins helps withstand noisy environments, and internal clock generators keep clock noise inside. Electromagnetic compatibility/electromagnetic interference (EMI/EMC) compliance is addressed with slew-rate and drive strength control. A built-in 16-bit CRC engine validates data, and an independent hardware watchdog monitors the system.

The S08P family includes the PT class of touch-sensing-interface-enabled controllers, full-featured PA controllers and entry-level PL devices. The three classes are 100 percent core-, peripheral-, pin- and software-compatible, which helps enable an easy transition between high-performance and cost-sensitive product designs using the same hardware platform.

The S08RN family for automotive applications also features the touch-sensing interface down to 8 kB and will be extended with full-featured S08RNA controllers.