Re: 8 bit microcontroller market

Ian Bell wrote:
I am trying to get a handle on the current (or at least fairly recent) 8 bit
microcontroller market.

The market has become more specialized in recent years, and it's hard
to make generalizations about which maker is the cheapest, or the best
able to fill orders, etc.

I always start by trying to determine what mix of on-chip peripherals I
want, and what kind of processing speed and power dissipation needs I
have.

These are some of the basic families to look at: AVR, PIC, hc08, 8051,
h8. I'm sure there are others.

The 8051 segment is huge, with many vendors offering specific
advantages. Silabs is my current favorite for higher performance needs,
but their are cheaper makers if your needs are very basic. I also like
the royalty free USB and Ethernet stacks from Silabs and that helps to
offset any cost issues if you need a high quantity.

If you really hate Harvard, the hc08/hcs08 from Freescale is always a
good choice. I think the current numbers show them out front overall,
but as I said, you have to be careful to consider specialized needs in
today's crowded 8-bit market. This is not a one-size-fits-all kind of
market any more.

I've went to 16 bits for many of my new designs. The MSP430 is very
good if you need low power operation (they cover a wide range of
pinouts and options), and the hc12/9s12 from Freescale are similar to
their 8 bit offerings, but improved in many ways.

However, the biggest single trend in the past couple years is the
popularization of the Arm 32-bit devices. You can get a nice lpc2103
for a cheaper price than many 8 or 16 bit devices. The new Cortex M3
devices from Luminary are a recent development in the low-end of the 32
bit segment.

Five years ago it was much easier to select an 8-bit device. Now there
are many to pick from, and you can even scale up to 16 or 32 bits and
still stay within your cost constraints in some cases.

One of the other big considerations is your software toolsets. Some
families have better open source options and that might weigh heavily
if your quantity requirements are low. Once you pick a software toolset
you're likely going to be locked-in for a long time, so pick wisely.

Eric

.

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