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Breaking out of the Chip Shortage - Attempt 1

Finding alternative chips to break out of the chip shortage while still being able to get things done,

As I have hinted in my recent two posts about UPDI programmers, I am currently looking for a solution to replace the ATMEGA328P chip used in standard Arduino devices, like the UNO and NANO.The global chip shortage seems to be still hitting hard, with these devices (Arduino UNO, NANO), and even bare chips being quite hard to get hold of, and when you do, they are quite more expensive than they used to be.

This sent me on a new journey, to find a new chip, that is easy to use, inexpensive, and easy to get hold of. I have found 3 of these chips, starting today with the ATMEGATiny202,

The ATtiny202 is a microcontroller using the 8-bit AVR® processor with a hardware multiplier, running up to 20 MHz and 2 KB Flash, 128B SRAM, and 64 bytes of EEPROM in an 8-pin package. The series uses the latest technologies from Microchip with a flexible and low-power architecture, including Event System and SleepWalking, accurate analog features and advanced peripherals.

With only 8 pins, of which we can practically use only 5 ( 6 if you have an HV UPDI programmer ). This makes it a desirable solution for small projects, with its current price of about 0.59 USD per chip ( SOIC8 PACKAGE, Element14 ), not breaking the bank either. Not needing an external oscillator, and requiring only a single 100nf bypass capacitor, (not counting the UPDI resistor) it can indeed be a very very cheap way to get a project done… Providing of course that you don’t need a lot of Program memory or RAM, and are not trying to do too many super fancy or complicated things.”

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