PIC18-Q20 Is Microchip's First Microcontroller Supporting the New I3C Interface
Target device mode capable of up to 12.5 MBit/s, dynamically assigned address, and backward compatible with I2C.
Microchip introduced the PIC18-Q20 microcontroller product line. These full-featured chips come in 14- and 20-pin packages, support multi-voltage I/O, and are the first low-pin count microcontroller with an I3C target mode.
The Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) interface was first introduced in 1982. Today, it is typically found on any microcontroller with serial interfaces and is in countless peripheral devices.
In 2016, the first version of the Improved Inter-Integrated Circuit (I3C) standard hit the industry. Since then, it has found its way into devices like FPGAs and switch products. Micropchip's PIC18-Q20 is the first (low-pin count) general-purpose microcontroller on the market to feature the new interface.
I3C is a multi-drop bus with two wires (clock and data). It is backward compatible with I2C buses. However, I3C improves on the legacy max data rate of 1 megabit/s, with a standard data rate (SDR) going to 12.5 megabit/s. There are optional faster rates as well.
Microchip's PIC18-Q20 only operates in I3C's target mode and adheres to a subset of the I3C v1.0 specification called the MIPI I3C Basic Specification 1.0. This subset is royalty-free implementation and licensed under a RAND-Z license. The PIC18-Q20 supports I3C's new features like in-band interrupts, dynamic address assignment, and hot-join capabilities.
PIC18-Q20's core logic can operate at a lower voltage from the I3C interface. For example, the multi-voltage I/O feature supports I3C working at 0.95 to 3.63 voltage levels.
In addition to the unique features already mentioned, the microcontroller family has standard features like up to 64 kilobytes of program flash memory, 4 kilobytes of SRAM, 256 bytes of data EEPROM, multi-channel 10-bit ADCs, capacitive touch sensing, and timers. Check out the PIC18-Q20 product page for more information on variants and a full datasheet.
Individual chips are available now in several surface mount packages and the through-hole PDIP style! Alternatively, Microchip says there will be a Curiosity Nano development board with a PIC18F16Q20.