Silicon Labs Mixed-Signal MCU Simplifies Full-Speed USB Connectivity
A high-performance USB MCU family that reduces cost and complexity in consumer, industrial, and medical applications

April 15, 2011 – Silicon Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ: SLAB, Country Manager Jong-Chan Lee), a global leader in high-performance analog-intensive mixed-signal ICs, announced today the launch of two families of USB microcontrollers (MCUs) that provide the industry's fastest, easiest, and most cost-effective path to USB connectivity. The new C8051F38x and C8051T62x/32x USB MCUs, which are extensions to Silicon Labs' highly popular USB MCU portfolio, can be utilized in a wide range of applications such as home automation systems, thermostats, USB dongles, smart card readers, GPS localizers, touch panels, sensor data loggers, portable medical devices, scales, USB speakers, serial communication bridges, games, and motorized toys.

With over 2 billion USB devices sold annually, the demand for easy-to-implement USB solutions continues to grow. However, for developers lacking USB software expertise, adding this complex, general-purpose interface to space-constrained and price-sensitive embedded products is typically a challenging task.

To this end, Silicon Labs, a leading supplier of USB MCUs and smart interface ICs, introduced a new family of USB MCUs that makes it easier to implement USB connectivity in embedded designs. This product family, which includes 22 products with flash and OPT (one-time-programmable), enables crystal-less USB implementation based on features such as a full-speed USB 2.0 interface engine, superior processing performance and USB processing speed, best-in-class precision analog functions and innovative clock recovery functions, thereby reducing the number of parts and BOM costs (cost).

The enhanced analog/mixed-signal performance of the C8051F38x MCU family enables developers to implement high-performance USB connectivity without the additional cost associated with using the latest MCUs. Furthermore, the flash-based F38x devices are pin and code compatible with the existing Silicon Labs C8051F34x USB MCU, offering easy migration while providing additional I2C interfaces, high-performance analog-to-digital converters (ADCs), low power consumption, and additional timers.

The C8051T62x/32x OTP MCU is ideal for price-sensitive USB applications without compromising performance or functionality. The T62x/32x product family is scalable, allowing developers to select the most convenient set of digital and analog peripherals optimized for their application requirements and cost objectives. Meanwhile, OTP-based USB MCUs offer most of the same peripherals and similar functions as Silicon Labs' flash-based products, but are characterized by the advantage of cost reduction.

The F38x and T62x/32x product families include USB MCUs featuring high-performance ADCs capable of high-precision measurements, eliminating the need for external ADCs. The on-chip ADC and high-speed comparator are up to five times faster than competing products, making it easier for developers to create analog-intensive applications such as sensor data loggers, scales, game controllers, and blood pressure monitors.