arduCHIP

The arduCHIP is a very small compact breadboard-friendly board based on the ATmega328p. It has more or less the same functionality of the Arduino, but in a very small and compact package (20.6mm x 25.8mm). It requires a 4.5-5.5V regulated power source and its the perfect companion for the arduSTAMP.  
The serial interface is fully compatible with the USB breakout board of the arduSTAMP or with sparkFun's FTDI basic. The arduCHIP is a very compact board that will allow you to have the full power of an Arduino on a very small footprint. 
The arduCHIP is meant for users that are familiar with the Arduino environment and are looking for a cost effective bare bones board to use on a constraint space project. If you are not familiar with the Arduino environment we recommend that you first buy the arduSTAMP, arduSTICK or an Arduino Duemilanove or One (they are great boards and a very good starting point). The board is fully compatible with the Arduino software development environment.
It comes pre-programmed with adaboot bootloader.

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Specifications
  • Microcontroller - Atmel ATmega328p
  • Operating Voltage (logic level) - 1.8V to 5.5V
  • Input Voltage range - 4.5V to 5.5 V
  • Input Voltage (limits) - 1.8V - 6 V
  • Digital I/O Pins - 14 (of which 6 provide PWM output) + 7 if analog inputs are not used 
  • Analog Input Pins 8
  • DC Current per I/O Pin (max) - 40 mA (200mA max when using all pins)
  • Flash Memory - 32 KB of which 2 KB used by boot loader, 1KB used by Adaboot (opt)
  • SRAM - 2 KB
  • EEPROM - 1 KB
  • Clock Speed - 16 MHz (for Input Voltage range and when powered from USB)
  • Dimensions - 20.5mm x 25.8mm (0.8" x 1")
Board Layout
arduCHIP Rev A.2 - Board Layout
The arduCHIP is a small footprint Arduino compatible board. The board has 2 main areas, the Main Board where the ATMega328 is with connectors exposing all the PINs from the chip and an ISP, which is only used to download the bootloader.Each board can be cut out from the main PCB resulting in two separate products:

Main Board: this is a 20.5mm x 25.8mm (0.8" x 1") breakout board with all the pins exposed.  It can be regarded as a barebones Arduino.







Power

The arduCHIP can must be powered by a 4.5 to 5.5V regulated external power supply (pins marked as +5V).

Input Output
All the digital IO pins can be used as digital IOs using. Each pin can provide or receive a maximum of 40 mA and has an internal pull-up resistor (disconnected by default) of 20-50 kOhms. We recommend using the image above to map the functionality.
arduCHIP Rev A.2 - IO mapping
Some of the pin of the arduCHIP have specialized functions:

  • Serial: 0 (RX) and 1 (TX). Used to receive (RX) and transmit (TX) TTL serial data. These pins are connected to the USB to serial interface on the USB breakout board.
  • External Interrupts: Digital pins 2 and 3. These pins can be configured to trigger an interrupt on a low value, a rising or falling edge, or a change in value. PWM: 3, 5, 6, 9, 10, and 11. Provide 8-bit PWM output.
  • SPI: 10 (SS), 11 (MOSI), 12 (MISO), 13 (SCK). These pins support SPI communication.
  • Analog Inputs: has 8 analog inputs, each of which provide 10 bits of resolution (i.e. 1024 different values). By default they measure from Vin to GND (regulated input of the board) and analogReference can be changed.
  • I2C: Analog Pin 4 (SDA) and Analog Pin 5 (SCL). Support I2C (TWI) communication using the Wire library.
  • AREF.: Analog reference voltage for the analog inputs.
  • RST.: Bring this line LOW to reset the microcontroller. This pin is connected between the reset line of the ATMega328 and the DTR control line of the FT232RL. This allows to the FT232RL to reset the chip prior to an upload. The board also has a reset button. When the main board is separated from the USB to serial interface the RST pin can be used to remotely reset to board.
Communication
The arduSTAMP provides a basic UART TTL serial communication interface, available on digital IO 0 (RX) and 1 (TX).
The Main Board also supports I2C (TWI) and SPI communication.
Programming
The arduCHIP can be programmed with the Arduino software (download). For details, see the reference and tutorials. It comes with the pre-programmed bootloader that communicates with the host computer using the original STK500 protocol.

Assembly

Boards can be ordered as a bare board with no components or fully assembled.
arduCHIP Rev. A.2 - Component placement

The assembly of the board is very easy as it only has components on one side, ideal for hobbyists enabling easy hand, reflow oven or skillet soldering.

Components and Part Numbers


Qty
Value
Device
Reference
Parts
2
M06SIP
1x6 2.54mm header
JP1, JP2
4
0.1uF
CAP0805
08055C104KAT2A
C1, C2, C3, C7
1
10K
RESISTOR0805-RES
RNCP0805FTD10K0
R1
1
16MHz
CERALOCK CSTCE
CSTCE16M0V53-R0
Y1
1
ATMEGA328P
ATMEGA168
ATMEGA328P-AU
U1
1
AVR_SPI_PRG_6
AVR_SPI_PRG_6PTH
2x3 2.54mm header
J1
1
B3U-1000P
B3U-SWITCH_
B3U-1000P
SW1
2
M09
M09
1x9 2.54mm header
JP3, JP4
1
arduChip
BOARD_INFOS+
REV_A

 Schematic and Design Files

arduCHIP v A.2: schematic and eagle files.

Creative Commons License
arduCHIP by F. Malpartida is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at bitbucket.org.
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