Hi All,

im currently working on a grid tie microinverter project and i would to choose between Microchip's dsPIC33FJ16GS504 or Infineon's XE161FL as my microcontroller. these two are the readily available at our company that suits the requirements of the said project. i would just like to get insights about these two microcontrollers if someone has already used or tested it and if what would you recommend among the two. maybe just some pros and cons with the said MCUs. thanks in advance!

Regards.

 

Easy for me to say but I'd go with Microchip.

In 20+ years of putting PICs in to all kinds of seriously nasty environments, I've never had one quit or break in service.

Microchip never obsoletes a part (so far). So while they encourage you to upgrade by making better and cheaper stuff, you can still get those 16C54s if you want. I don't know how Infineon measures up but the chip you call out is already not recommended for new designs. I've replaced lots of other manufacturer's stuff with uCHIP because they quit making older chips.
I think the real driver is long term cost and near term support. uCHIP's compiler offerings are pretty good these days and are regularly updated. The FREE versions of the compiler are not size-limited but don't have full optimization. Compared to other compilers, the HPA fees are reasonable. Technical support is free and pretty good via support tickets. Once you get a ticket, you can call them. The compilers are owned and supported by Microchip instead of a third party. Yup. Done some expensive ports to get code off some defunct compiler onto something that runs on current PCs.

On the downside, some uCHIP stuff is notoriously buggy - silicon and development gear. But they eventually fix it - check the errata and never use silicon rev 0 is my advice here. That's not a particularly ringing endorsement for Microchip but compared to other horrors I've seen over the years, they do a pretty good job.
They DO obsolete development environments so be prepared for that. I got my clients to just buy a cheap desktop to archive their development environments. In many cases, its cheaper than upgrading to the latest and greatest stuff (at my *handsome but ever-so-worth-it* fees at least).

Full disclosure, I am a uCHIP design partner - but would and do not hesitate to slam them when its warranted.

Just my .04 - as I said - I'm expensive
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