MCX A Series Microcontrollers

MCX A14x and A15x all-purpose microcontrollers (MCUs) address a wide range of applications with scalable device options, low power and intelligent peripherals.

The MCX A14x and A15x Arm® Cortex®-M33 general purpose MCUs operate at up to 96 MHz with high levels of integration and analog. The low power cache enhances the system performance with built-in RAM self-test hardware and supporting safety applications.

They offer a wide range of low power and intelligent peripherals including Timers that generate three complementary PWM pairs with deadband insertion, 4 Msps 12b ADC with hardware windowing and averaging features.

The innovative power architecture is designed to support high utilization of I/Os and power efficiency with a simple supply circuit in a smaller footprint. Designed to support more GPIO pins for additional external connections, the MCX A allows designers to utilize a smaller package, simpler board design and lower system BOM costs.

Target Applications

• Sensing & metering
• Building control & automation
• Smart circuit breaker
• Home appliances
• USB accessories
• Compressor drive
• Smart lighting
• Hand-held devices
• Power tools
• IoT nodes

MCX A14x and A15x Block Diagram

The MCX A14x and A15x block diagram illustrates the microcontroller's architecture, organized into key functional blocks. These include System Control (housing Power Control, Single VDD Power Supply, POR, Core LDO, and Clock Generation Unit with FRO 192, FRO16K, XTAL 8-50 MHz, Clock Out), the CORE Platform featuring the Arm® Cortex®-M33 core operating at 48 MHz and 96 MHz, and Memory options comprising FLASH (Up to 128 kB with 4 kB Cache), RAM (Up to 32 kB with 8 kB ECC), and ROM Boot. Peripheral sets include Timers (Wakeup Timer, 3x 32-bit Timers, Windowed WDT, LP Timer, Micro Tick Timer, OS Event Timer), Interfaces (1x LPI2C, 3x LPUART, FS USB, 1x I3C, 2x LPSPI), a Motor Control Subsystem (1x QDC, 1x AOI, 1x FlexPWM), and Analog components (1x 12-bit ADC, 2x ACMP, Temp Sensor).

Comprehensive Enablement

The MCX MCU portfolio is supported by the MCUXpresso Developer Experience to optimize, ease and help accelerate embedded system development. The MCUXpresso suite includes tools for simple device configuration and secure programming. Developers can choose to work with multiple IDEs including MCUXpresso for VS Code, MCUXpresso IDE, IAR, or Keil.

NXP provides drivers and middleware with extensive examples and support for a range of RTOS choices, further complemented by a wide range of compatible middleware from NXP's partner ecosystem, allowing rapid development of a broad range of end applications.

Hardware Platforms

For quick prototyping, NXP offers low-cost, compact and scalable FRDM development boards. Developers have easy access to additional tools like the Expansion Board Hub for add-on boards and the Application Code Hub for software examples through the MCUXpresso Developer Experience.

The FRDM-MCXA153 is a development board designed for rapid prototyping, showcasing the MCX A Series microcontrollers. It provides access to various interfaces and components for embedded system development.

MCX A14x and A15x MCU Options