A lot of the new MCUs are running at 3.3V with 5V tolerant I/O. This includes MSP430 and Silabs (Cygnal) 8051. I am not so sure whether it is a disadvantage or not. You will need an extra 3.3V supply since a lot of the peripheral still works at 5V or even higher. For example, we pulse LEDs at high current and >6V is needed. But still I do not think this as a disadvantage if we gain from the current consumption or other features. We are now evaluating a customized dual push-pull output ASIC with SMPS (7V output, can be disabled) and another two output (5V and 3.3V) just for application of 3.3V and it seems this is a trend. Who knows when Microchip will move to 0.25um or 0.18um technology (hope not so soon, though)? Xiaofan Date: Fri, 26 Nov 2004 21:25:44 -0800 From: William "Chops" Westfield >>On Nov 26, 2004, at 8:57 AM, Matt Pobursky wrote: >> More and more of my designs are 3.3V or less... > >Which brings up one of the annoying aspects of the MSP430 series. 3.6V >is MAXIMUM specified supply voltage. > >BillW _______________________________________________ http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist