The emergence of smart cities, smart homes and smart buildings, enabled by billions of battery-operated IoT devices connected to data centers, will force IC design teams to pursue tough power objectives: zero power consumption in stand-by mode with maximum performance in operation mode at optimized energy efficiency. Energy efficiency is the key metric which demonstrates the maximum that can be done with the minimum energy.
Unfortunately, the free lunch offered for decades by Moore’s law is now over and scaling down to the next technology node no longer offers the required energy efficiency gains.
Design teams must now pursue their gains by deploying increasingly complex power management techniques to meet the demands of the new IoT markets. This is particularly tricky in advanced IoT where near-sensor processing must be efficiently combined with RF connectivity, together with advanced power management.
Semiconductor companies are constantly innovating to deliver state-of-the-art solutions to their IoT customers through the adoption of new process nodes, advanced SoC architectures and smart power management techniques.
A microcontroller consists of a memory, a processor, and input /output peripherals on a single integrated circuit. It is installed in automatically controlled products and electronic devices such as remote controls, office machines, home appliances, power tools, toys, and others. Usage of microcontrollers in electronic devices makes their functioning error free and ensures smooth process flow.
Among the large microcontroller market, the Ultra-Low Power (ULP) microcontroller market is currently attracting lots of attention.
The ULP microcontroller market is expected to grow from an estimated value of 4.4 billion USD in 2019 to 12.9 billion USD by 2024, at a CAGR of 24.1% during 2019–2024 (marketsandmarkets analysis).
