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I am working on a student project and need to find AVR microcontroller that will suit all project requirements. Here's a simple list:

  1. serial communication (UART),
  2. at least two ADC channels,
  3. PDIP package (for easy soldering, I do not have access to expensive equipment nor do I have skills to perform small-scale soldering),
  4. four I/O ports (excluding UART connections).

I searched on Atmel's website and was stunned when I realised that no device exists that can support these simple requirements.

Here are two devices I considered:

I hope that someone will be able to point me to the right device, as I failed to find one to match the requirements. Any recommendations will be much appreciated.

EDIT:

I've noticed that the device selection tool on Atmel's website is not much reliable, at least not in my case. If you list all 8-bit microcontrollers, remove all filters and filter by number of ADC channels (select at least one) and number of UARTs (select at least one), no device in a PDIP package (according to the selection in Packages filter) will be available. You can see the results here.

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The ATmega8 has everything you need. Farnell has over 2000 of them: uk.farnell.com/jsp/… – Leon Heller Jul 19 '12 at 13:13
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Atmel has a device selection tool on their website: www.atmel.com – jippie Jul 19 '12 at 14:14
I've noticed a lot of negative votes. Being a beginner in electronics, I relied on Atmel's website to search for the proper device. However, the device selection tool on their website is misleading. You can check it out for yourself - choose at least one ADC channel and one UART and clear all other criteria. When you select criteria by package, all PDIP packages will be grayed out. I should've used Digikey's selection tool, as it is more reliable. – Nikola Malešević Jul 20 '12 at 8:31
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@NikolaMalešević downvotes are only -2 rep while a single upvote is +5 on a question and +10 on an answer, this seems to lack research, but as has been discussed this is probably because you just had not yet learned how to efficiently research such a topic. Nothing to worry about, hope you have learned, in general looking for shopping advice is not a good fit. Please also mark an answer as an answer if it helped you solve your issue. – Kortuk♦ Jul 22 '12 at 6:51

1 Answer

up vote 7 down vote accepted

Digikey has excellent selection tools for its components. You can select on package, manufacturer, ADC, and other features. (Odd that memory size doen't seem to be important.)

I found 143 parts matching your requirements. The ATmega48P is 1.76 dollar in 1s and has 4 kB of Flash. The ATmega88P and ATmega168P are the same, but with 8 kB and 16 kB Flash, resp (same datasheet).

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An alternative to Digikey is Farnell, who also have a very nice search system. – Polynomial Jul 19 '12 at 14:11
@Polynomial Aren't Farnell for companies only? – exscape Jul 19 '12 at 14:28
@exscape Nope, I order from them regularly. Just placed an order today, actually. You can always order from CPC (if you're in the UK) which is Farnell's more consumer-friendly branch. – Polynomial Jul 19 '12 at 14:31
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@exscape - No. But Farnell is expensive, the ATmega8 costs 29 % more than at Digikey. We use Farnell for its overnight delivery. If I urgently need a part to finish my prototype I can order it at 5 in the afternoon, and the next morning at 9 the parts are on my desk. But this has a price... – stevenvh Jul 19 '12 at 14:34
Huh. Have they changed that policy in the recent years? There are tons of posts on Swedish electronics forums about that very issue, including official Farnell info that they only trade with other companies. – exscape Jul 19 '12 at 14:38

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