Embedded Processing & DSP

MSP430 Microcontrollers

Ultra-Low Power, Easy-to-Use, 16-Bit RISC Microcontrollers

Get samples, data sheets, tools and app reports at: www.ti.com/msp430

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MSP430 roadmap

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CC430 — high integration reduces complexity, lets designers do more with less. www.ti.com/cc430

Key Applications

Low-power wireless applications
Consumer electronics
Utility metering
Intelligent sensing and control
Portable medical and instrumentation
Security systems

Key Features

16-bit RISC CPU enables new applications at a fraction of the code size
Ultra-low power architecture and flexible clock system extends battery life:

0.1μA RAM retention
<1μA real-time clock mode
Down to 165 μA/MIPS

Increased performance

Up to 25 MHz
1.8V ISP Flash erase and write
Fail-safe, flexible clocking system
User-defined bootstrap loader
Up to 1-MB linear memory addressing

Innovative features

Multi-channel DMA supports data movement in standby mode
Industry-leading code density
More design options including USB, RF, LCD interface

Integrated intelligent peripherals including a wide range of highperformance analog and digital peripherals offload the CPU
Easy to get started: Complete development tools starting at only U.S. $20 with integrated development environments available free of charge

Coming Soon: All New CC430 RF System-on-Chip

Integrates MSP430F5xx with CC1101
High analog performance/integration
Ease of development
High RF sensitivity and blocking
Flexible data rate and RF modulation formats

MSP430×1xx – Flash/ROM-based MCUs offering 1.8V to 3.6V operation, up to 60 kB, 8 MIPS and a wide range of peripherals.
MSP430F2xx – Flash-based family featuring even lower power and up to 16 MIPS with 1.8V to 3.6V operation. Additional enhancements include ±1% on-chip very-low-power oscillator, internal pull-up/pull-down resistors and lowpin-count options.
MSP430×4xx – Flash/ROM-based devices offering 1.8V to 3.6V operation, up to 120-kB Flash/ROM, 16 MIPS with FLL + SVS along with an integrated LCD controller. Ideal for low-power metering and medical applications.
MSP430F5xx/6xx – New Flash-based microcontroller family featuring the lowest power consumption and performance up to 25 MIPS. It offers a wide operating voltage range from 1.8V to 3.6V. Features include an innovative power management module for optimizing power consumption, an internally controlled voltage regulator, integrated LDC driver on select devices and a wide range of memory options up to 256 kB.

16-Bit RISC CPU

Large register file eliminates accumulator bottleneck
Optimized for C and assembler programming
Compact core design reduces power and cost
Up to 16 MIPS of performance available

The MSP430 MCU’s orthogonal architecture provides the flexibility of 16 fully addressable, single-cycle 16-bit CPU registers and the power of a RISC. The modern design of the CPU offers versatility using only 27 easy-to-understand instructions and seven consistent addressing modes. This results in a 16-bit low-power CPU that has more effective processing, is smaller-sized and more code-efficient than other microcontrollers. Develop new ultra-low power, high-performance applications at a fraction of the code size.

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The MSP430 CPU core with sixteen 16-bit registers, 27 core instructions and seven addressing modes results in higher processing efficiency and code density.

Ultra-Low Power Performance

The MSP430 was designed to provide industry-leading ultra-low power performance. A flexible clocking system, multiple operating modes and zero-power alwayson brown-out reset (BOR) are implemented to reduce power consumption and dramatically extend battery life. The MSP430 BOR function is always active, even in all low-power modes to ensure the most reliable performance possible. The MSP430 CPU architecture with 16 registers, 16-bit data and 16-/20-bit address buses minimizes power consuming fetches to memory and a fast vectored-interrupt structure reduces the need for wasteful CPU software flag polling. Intelligent hardware peripheral features were also designed to allow tasks to be completed more efficiently and independent of the CPU. Many MSP430 customers have developed battery-based products that will last for over 10 years from the original battery!

Ultra-Low Power Checklist:

Multiple operating modes

0.1μA RAM retention
<1μA real-time clock mode
Down to 165 μA/MIPS

Instant-on stable high-speed clock
1.8V to 3.6V operation
Zero-power BOR
<50-nA pin leakage
CPU that minimizes CPU cycles per task
Low-power peripheral options

Flexible Clock System

Low-frequency auxiliary clock for ultralow power stand-by mode
High-speed master clock for highperformance processing
Stability over time and temperature

The MSP430 MCU clock system is designed specifically for battery-powered applications. Multiple oscillators are utilized to support event-driven burst activity. A low-frequency Auxiliary Clock (ACLK) is driven directly from a common 32-kHz watch crystal or the internal very-lowpower oscillator (VLO) – with no additional external components.The ACLK can be used for a background real-time clock self wake-up function. An integrated highspeed digitally controlled oscillator (DCO) can source the master clock (MCLK) used by the CPU and sub-main clock (SMCLK) used by the high-speed peripherals. By design, the DCO is active and stable in 1μs (F2xx) or < 6μs (x1xx, x4xx, F5xx). MSP430 device-based solutions efficiently use 16-bit RISC CPU high performance in very short burst intervals. This results in very high performance and ultra-low power consumption.

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Multiple oscillator clock system