Cheapest USB microcontroller?

Question

Does anyone know the lowest cost microcontroller with a USB interface?

I have done some Googling, and it seems there are quite a few USB microcontrollers based on either ARM or 8051. Either is okay, but they are not very cheap. They are all over $3 @ qty 1000.

The cheapest I have found so far is the Atmel AT90USB82, which is an AVR. It is just under $2 @ qty 1000.

Here is what I need:

Essential: USB (low or full speed) Cheap 10 I/O (8 outputs, 2 inputs) >= 1k program memory >= 256 bytes non-volatile data (eg EEPROM)

Nice to have: UART Integrated Oscillator Very low power sleep mode Small package

Not needed: High-speed USB Fast CPU

If anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know.

-Bob

Frank Buss · Accepted Answer

You could take a look at your computer mouse. My Dell mouse has a CY7C63813, which you can get for $1.84 for 410 units:

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It doesn't have EEPROM, but you can re-program flash blocks from the firmware. USB is low speed, only. It has 8k flash and 256 bytes RAM.

Walter Banks · Answer

Depending on quantity Cypress M8A and M8B parts used in mice and keyboards. reasonable 8 Bit processor and good reference designs. I am biased we wrote the C compiler for the two parts families.

Regards,

-- Walter Banks Byte Craft Limited

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snipped-for-privacy@bytecraft.com Canada

rickman · Answer

Your need for EEPROM narrows the field considerably. Flash is nearly universal in MCUs, but EEPROM is much less common. Is this actually required? Can it be added externally? I expect it is a cost issue, but you need to compare MCU with EEPROM cost vs. MCU + EEPROM cost. You may be able to do better using a separate EEPROM.

Rick

Antti · Answer

there exist china made usb flash micros with 1.0 usd cost, but they arent easy to get

1.84 is already not so bad

i did recall c8051f326 pricing 2.36 usd but digikey list a bit more so you maybe cant get at 2.30 they are nice as they have onchip oscillator and run FS not LS like the cypress cheap things i also considered myself once the USB82 ,but eh the last penny is not always worth saving also if you need add crystal :(

so if you can use LS use the sub 2 usd cypress LS chip

Antti

Neil · Answer

Microchip has $2.12

Wim Lewis · Answer

If you only need low-speed USB, you can do it in software on an ATtiny:

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Presumably this would let you shave a little off the MCU cost, but the USB implementation licensing might eat up that advantage.

Cheapest USB microcontroller?

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