The new C8051F54x/F55x/F56x/F57x product families from Silicon Labs are ideal for space-constrained applications.  Industrial and automotive designs requiring precision analog interface, digital processing and a networked serial bus (CAN or LIN) are a great fit for these MCUs.  Example applications include anti-pinch window/gate lifters, steering angle measurements and ventilation systems.  Many of these applications typically need high-endurance Flash-based program memory and reliable operation over extended temperature/voltage ranges.  

Benefits of this MCU family include:

• High level of integration and system-on-chip features to reduce board space and system BOM
• Programmable crossbar to extend chip peripherals, also reducing BOM and simplifying PCB routing
• New automatic analog adjustment feature enables the use of lower cost un-calibrated sensors
• Performance of 16-bit applications with an 8-bit price point
• Speedy, real-time computations instead of look-up tables to reduce code size and increased accuracy 
• Need for fewer CPU MIPS to operate the system which frees up valuable CPU resources

In order to reduce the development risk and maximize the opportunity for software reuse, it is critical that a customer have a wide range of pin and software compatible microcontroller options available in the same product family.  Memory sizes range from 2 to 128 kB of Flash. Package options range from a tiny 3x3 mm DFN10 to a 7x7 mm QFN48.