New Industry Products

MCU Integrates NFC Energy Harvesting for Smart Tags and IoT

October 25, 2017 by Paul Shepard

NXP Semiconductors N.V. today announced the new LPC8N04 MCU, the latest addition to the rapidly expanding LPC800 series of 32-bit ARM® Cortex®-M0+ based MCUs. Offering an integrated Near Field Communications (NFC) interface with energy-harvesting capability, the LPC8N04 MCU is optimized to address the growing need for cost-effective, short-range two-way wireless communication.

With the proliferation of NFC reader technology and rich graphical displays in today's smartphones, combined with the open developer ecosystem of iOS and Android-based applications, the use of NFC technology has stretched beyond its original tap-to-pay intention.

The LPC8N04 MCU enables developers to quickly implement broad-based solutions that leverage system diagnostics or environmental conditions for a smarter tagging experience. With the added benefit of flexible communication modes, solutions now also enable the ability to push data to an LPC8N04 MCU-based edge-node, for example in device provisioning, configuration or customization.

The LPC8N04 MCU consists of a Power Management Unit (PMU), clocks, timers, a digital computation and control cluster (ARM Cortex-M0+ and memories), AHB-APB slave modules , and the integrated NFC/RFID section. (click on diagram to enlarge)

"NXP's LPC8N04 MCU with integrated NFC extends our history of market disruption by bringing unique technology and innovation to the global microcontroller landscape," said Geoff Lees, senior vice president and general manager of the microcontroller business at NXP. "We are excited to be able to democratize NFC technology - ushering a new wave of consumer and industrial IoT applications."

Key features of the LPC8N04 MCU include:

  • ARM Cortex-M0+ core with four flexible power modes
  • Integrated 32 KB Flash, 8 KB SRAM and 4 KB EEPROM
  • NFC/RFID ISO 14443 type A communication with energy harvesting supporting a diverse range of tagging and provisioning applications
  • Integrated temperature sensor with +/- 1.5°C accuracy
  • Two serial interfaces and 12 GPIOs
  • 72 to 3.6 V operation and -40 to +85°C temperature range (ambient)
  • Low cost, small footprint QFN24 package

This new MCU is supported by the LPC8N04 development board (OM40002) with easy-to-use code examples that are compatible with MCUXpresso, Keil and IAR IDEs.

The LPC8N04 MCU is sampling now. NXP is partnering with its distributors who will demonstrate the capabilities and offer full channel availability of this MCU in January 2018 with a full ecosystem, including tools, technical support, and a complete reference design to get to market quickly.