February 27, 2013, Seoul, Korea – As the Internet of Things (IoT) expands and a massive number of small, battery-powered intelligent devices enter the IoT, MCUs for these devices must provide performance, energy efficiency, and connectivity while further reducing their footprint. Freescale Semiconductor (NYSE: FSL) is keeping pace with this miniaturization trend with its new Kinetis KL02 MCU, the world's smallest ARM Powered® MCU. The KL02 has strong potential to enable the creation of ultra-small products in applications such as portable consumer electronics, remote sensing nodes, wearable devices, and collectible medical detection.

Measuring just 1.9 x 2.0 mm, the Kinetis KL02 MCU is 25% smaller than the industry's second-smallest ARM® MCU. Freescale has packed the latest 32-bit ARM Cortex™ M0+ processor, advanced low-power capabilities, and a variety of analog and communications peripherals into this tiny device. This allows system designers to significantly reduce board and product sizes while maintaining critical performance, feature integration, and power consumption characteristics at the end device. Furthermore, space-constrained applications that previously could not accommodate MCUs can now be upgraded into smart applications and added as a new tier of devices to Internet of Things (IoT) interconnected systems.

Geoff Lees, Vice President and General Manager of Freescale’s Microcontroller business unit, said, “Freescale has been a pioneer in various parts of the ARM Powered MCU market through its Kinetis portfolio. Freescale was the first to launch MCUs based on ARM Cortex-M4 and Cortex-M0+ processors, set a new standard for energy efficiency in entry-level MCUs, and is now helping advance the Internet of Things era by creating the world’s smallest ARM Powered MCU.”

Richard York, Director of Embedded Processors at ARM, said, “The Internet of Things will become a vast and diverse interconnected system where smart devices and screens are connected to bring intelligence to many areas of daily life. The range is wide, from small sensors that help monitor crops and irrigate them to microcontrollers that improve the energy efficiency of entire buildings. Our mobile devices will enable us to control and manage this data and make daily life easier to manage.” He added, “The Kinetis KL02 CSP MCU delivers ARM and Freescale’s best technology to applications at the edge of the Internet of Things (IoT) and opens up possibilities for a new tier of power-efficient, ultra-small smart devices.”

Latest chip-scale packaging
The Kinetis KL02 is a wafer-level CSP (Chip Scale Package) MCU. Freescale's CSP MCUs utilize the latest package manufacturing technology to directly connect the die to the PCB via solder ball interconnects. This eliminates the need for wire bonding or interposer connections, resulting in minimized die-PCB inductance and improved package durability and thermal conductivity in physically harsh environments. The KL02 device is the third CSP MCU in the Kinetis portfolio, following the larger 120/143-pin Kinetis K-series K60/K61. Additional Kinetis CSP MCUs with higher performance, memory, and feature options are expected to be released in 2013.

Supply status and support
Samples of the Kinetis KL02 CSP MCU are expected to be supplied to key customers starting in March 2013. Widespread market distribution of mass-production samples is scheduled to begin in July 2013 through Freescale and distribution partners. The recommended retail price is 75 cents (USD) per 100,000 units.