Low power MSP430 F5

What do you think of these devices?

MSP430F5310
MSP430FR5969

The MSP430F5310:

~200µA/MHZ in active mode from flash, still far from the 165µA/MHz

and the RAM retention mode is 1.1 µA, on this page it says: 0.1µA (http://www.ti.com/lsds/ti/microcontroller/16-bit_msp430/5_series/overview.page)

The specification announced looks very good, but I still cannot find the devices that matches this spec.

For the MSP430FR5969, it is a FRAM product and I need a pre-programmed part before soldering, so I'm not considering FRAM, plus the price is not attractive to my budget.

blaise lengrand said:

For the MSP430FR5969, it is a FRAM product and I need a pre-programmed part before soldering, so I'm not considering FRAM,

blaise lengrand said:

he price is not attractive to my budget.

Jens-Michael Gross said:

For the MSP430FR5969, it is a FRAM product and I need a pre-programmed part before soldering, so I'm not considering FRAM,

What is the difference of FRAM and Flash regarding pre-rpogramming them?
Or do you fear it will lose memory durign soldering? (well, I never workd with the FRAM parts so far, even though I have some EXP boards, but I don't remember reading such a limitation.)

[/quote]

You can program the MSP430FR5969 before standard automated soldering.  You cannot program the MSP430FR5739 before soldering.

Reference: MSP430FR59xx, MSP430FR58xx Mixed Signal Microcontroller Datasheet
Find, "The devices can retain programmed information in all sections of memory following exposure to solder reflow temperatures."

Reference: MSP430FR573x, MSP430FR572x Mixed Signal Microcontroller Datasheet
Find, "Programming of devices with user application code should only be performed after reflow or hand soldering."

Jason Work said:

You can program the MSP430FR5969 before standard automated soldering.  You cannot program the MSP430FR5739 before soldering.

Reference: MSP430FR59xx, MSP430FR58xx Mixed Signal Microcontroller Datasheet
Find, "The devices can retain programmed information in all sections of memory following exposure to solder reflow temperatures."

Reference: MSP430FR573x, MSP430FR572x Mixed Signal Microcontroller Datasheet
Find, "Programming of devices with user application code should only be performed after reflow or hand soldering."

Oh so the MSP430FR5969 can be programmed before soldering... good to know.

But coming back to my initial question, how do I reach the 165µA/MHz and 0.1µA RAM retention numbers announced for the MSP430 F5 series?

blaise lengrand said:

But coming back to my initial question, how do I reach the 165µA/MHz and 0.1µA RAM retention numbers announced for the MSP430 F5 series?

The figures on that page are out of date. For example, 5 series parts now have up to 512 kB flash and 66 kB RAM. I also couldn't find the specific figures you quoted. However, it's tough to design from a point form description. There is qualifying information needed to find out how those numbers were derived. For example was the consumption of 165 uA/MHz measured during program execution from RAM and at what voltage?  Only the datasheet could tell you. RAM retention happens in LPM4 but does your application need self wake up?  Perhaps LPM3 is more suitable. 

Besides lowest power, what other requirements do you have for your MCU?  Memory size? Peripherals? I could look through the datasheets to make the lowest power recommendation for you after narrowing it down based on a more complete list of your requirements. 

I was really appealed by the 0.1 µA in SRAM retention since my application has to sleep most of the time. I'm working with e-paper powered by a coin-cell battery so every µA matters. The LPM3 is > 1µA maybe I should consider a MSP430F4 device then....

I need about 128KB of flash (to store some graphics) , 2xSPI & 1xI2C for the sensors + e-paper + expansion connector and an ADC.

blaise lengrand said:

I was really appealed by the 0.1 µA in SRAM retention since my application has to sleep most of the time. I'm working with e-paper powered by a coin-cell battery so every µA matters. The LPM3 is > 1µA maybe I should consider a MSP430F4 device then....