Wireless MCUs for ‘the smallest IoT devices’

“Designed for the smallest IoT devices, the xG27 family ranges in size from 2mm-squared to 5 mm-squared. These offer designers energy efficiency, performance, trusted security and  wireless connectivity,” according to the company. Such as “connected medical devices, wearables, asset monitoring tags and simple consumer electronics like toothbrushes and toys”.

Within the family, BG27 MCUs have Bluetooth connectivity, then MG27 MCUs support Zigbee. The smallest package is a 2.3 x 2.6mm wafer-level chip-scale.

Amongst the family, at least some deives get a dc-dc boost converter so that they can run from as little as 0.8V, and another preiperal is a Coulomb counter for battery level monitoring.

Security comes from the Cortex-M33’s TrustZone, then Silicon Labs’ ‘secure vault’ and ‘virtual security engine’ (VSE) for secure boot, debug hardened against glitch attacks and tamper protection, plus “additional features designed to protect the device and its users’ data from local and remote cyber threats”, said SiLabs.

A ‘shelf mode’ power level is included that reduces consumption to <20nA for end-devices expected to have a near-full battery after being transported and stocked.