Introduction

While microcontrollers (MCUs) are primarily digital devices, some MCUs contain dedicated Core Independent Peripherals (CIPs) to implement or enhance analog circuitry. The PIC16F17576 is a low-cost MCU designed for analog applications. It offers multiple integrated operational amplifiers, a 12-bit Differential Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) with computation capabilities, a new low-power voltage reference (V_REFLP), a Digital-to-Analog Converter (DACLP) and a low-power analog comparator (CMPLP). To demonstrate these CIPs, two demo boards were created. This application note discusses the Low Power demo, which aims to monitor the temperature, while the “Adaptive Signal Amplification Technique in a Microcontroller” technical brief (TB3379) discusses the Adaptive Gain demo.