WCH has recently launched a new ultra low cost RISCV microcontroller CH32V003. It runs at 48Mhz and has 16KB Flash and 2KB RAM along with other general purpose interfaces (GPIO, I2C, SPI, UART) available on most of the microcontrollers.
The MCU could easily be used in many low end applications where cost is major constraint due to high volume or can even be used in low compute applications. One can also use this MCU for IO expansion, isolating some tasks from main MCU, etc.
Here are some reasons why engineers should pay attention to the CH32V003:
- The RISC-V architecture is gaining popularity, and it is one of the most affordable RISC-V microcontrollers available.
- The MCU has a wide range of peripherals, making it suitable for a variety of cost sensitive applications.
- The MCU is easy to use and program, fairly good support is available from the manufacturer.
- There is a growing community of developers who are using the RISCV based MCUs, and there are a number of resources available online to help engineers get started.
Technical Spec
- 32-bit RISCV 2A Core
- Up to 48MHz system frequency
- 2KB SRAM, 16KB Flash
- 1x DMA controller
- 1x OpAmp comparators
- 10-bit ADC
- 1x 16-bit advanced timer and 1x 16-bit general-purpose timer
- 2x watchdog timers and 1x 32-bit system time base timer
- 1x USART
- 1x I2C
- 1x SPI interface
- upto 18 I/O ports, mirroring an external interrupt
- 64-bit chip unique ID
- Serial 1-Wire Debug Interface
- Multiple low power modes: sleep, standby
- Supply voltage: 3.3/5V
- Power-on/power-off reset, programmable voltage detector
- Package form: TSSOP20, QFN20, SOP16, SOP8
System Block Diagram
Microcontroller Variants
Development support
- Datasheet CH32V003DS0.PDF
- Reference Manual CH32V003RM.PDF
- Evaluation Board CH32V003EVT.ZIP
- They support MounRiver Studio (MRS) IDE for the development which is Eclipse based environment.
- Quick Start Guide: CH32003 Programming
Programmer
WCK LInkE and WCH DAP Link can be used for programming and debugging.
Buy CH32V003 Development Board & Programmer
In India, you can buy the CH32V003 Development kit from Evelta Electronics.
If you are outside India, you can buy the development board and programmer from Aliexpress. (The website is banned in India).
Or on Tinde the evaluation board it is available
Short video on CH32V003
I hope you have enjoyed reading the blog about CH32V003 Microcontroller.
I am currently working as an embedded systems design consultant and helping companies build custom embedded products, develop test automation solution for their PCB.
If you have any feedback about the blog, you can share in the comments below or you can also contact me directly.
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