DSPIC33FJ16GS404-I/ML - 16-bit DSC, 16KB Flash, 40 MIPS | Microchip
MPN: DSPIC33FJ16GS404-I/ML ✓ Active| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5.32 | $5.32 |
| 10 | $4.79 | $47.90 |
| 100 | $3.99 | $399.00 |
| 500 | $3.45 | $1,725.00 |
| 1,000 | $3.05 | $3,050.00 |
DSPIC33FJ16GS404-I/ML Overview
A Digital Signal Controller (DSC) is a hybrid architecture that merges the deterministic interrupt latency and peripheral richness of a microcontroller (MCU) with the multiply-accumulate (MAC) throughput of a Digital Signal Processor (DSP). Within the broader taxonomy, a DSC sits between a microcontroller and a DSP, falling under the hierarchy DSC -> MCU -> embedded processor -> semiconductor. The dsPIC33F family specifically targets switch-mode power supplies, motor drives, lighting, and power-conversion applications where the MAC engine accelerates control loops while standard MCU peripherals (UART, SPI, I2C, timers) handle housekeeping.
Key features of the DSPIC33FJ16GS404 include high-speed PWM modules optimized for power conversion, on-chip 10-bit ADCs with paired Sample-and-Hold for current and voltage sensing, analog comparators for cycle-by-cycle current limiting, JTAG boundary-scan debug (IEEE 1149.2), and two hardware breakpoints. Operating from 3.0V to 3.6V across an industrial -40C to +85C range, the device supports In-Circuit Serial Programming (ICSP) and In-Application Programming (IAP) for field updates. The CMOS process technology keeps dynamic current low while the 40 MIPS core delivers deterministic control-loop performance.
The architecture combines a 16-bit modified-Harvard bus with separate program and data paths, a 17x17-bit single-cycle MAC, and a 40-bit accumulator that enables high-precision DSP operations without saturating. The integrated DSP engine removes the need for a separate DSP coprocessor, reducing BOM cost and PCB area while simplifying firmware development with a single C/asm toolchain (MPLAB XC16).
Typical applications include digital switch-mode power supplies (SMPS), uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), LED lighting drivers, BLDC/PMSM motor control, photovoltaic micro-inverters, and Class-D audio amplifiers. The combination of high-resolution PWM and fast ADCs makes the DSPIC33FJ16GS404 particularly well-suited to bridgeless PFC, LLC resonant converters, and digital control of synchronous-rectifier stages.
When designing with this part, follow Microchip application notes AN1078 (PFC) and AN1292 (SMPS) for loop-compensation guidance. Ensure that the QFN exposed pad (EP) is soldered to a sufficiently large copper pour to meet the 31.5 C/W thermal resistance, and place the 10 uF + 0.1 uF decoupling pair as close as possible to the VDD pins.
This page synthesizes distributor pricing as of 2026-09-26, drop-in alternatives from the dsPIC33F GS family, and practical design notes not found in the manufacturer datasheet, providing a single-source engineering reference unavailable from Microchip, DigiKey, or Mouser individually.
Drop-in alternatives for DSPIC33FJ16GS404-I/ML — same package, pin-to-pin compatible. Different-package parts requiring PCB rework are excluded.
Variants in this series
Same-series models that are drop-in compatible with DSPIC33FJ16GS404-I/ML (same form factor and footprint) — differing in ADC, Core Architecture, Package, Data RAM, Maximum CPU Speed.
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DSPIC33FJ16GS404-50I/ML
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$4.05 / Unit
View Datasheet →DSPIC33FJ16GS504-I/ML
✅ Drop-In📋 Reference alternative (not in catalog)
DSPIC33FJ16GS504-50I/ML
✅ Drop-In ⚠️ Specs Unverified✓ In Stock
$3.45 / Unit
View Datasheet →DSPIC33FJ16GS404-50E/ML
✅ Drop-In ⚠️ Specs Unverified📋 Reference alternative (not in catalog)
DSPIC33FJ16GS404-E/ML
✅ Drop-In ⚠️ Specs Unverified📋 Reference alternative (not in catalog)
DSPIC33FJ16GS404-I/ML Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Core Architecture | dsPIC33F 16-bit DSC |
| Program Memory (Flash) | 16 KB (16K x 8) |
| Data RAM | 2048 bytes |
| Maximum CPU Speed | 40 MIPS |
| Operating Voltage (VDD) | 3.0 V to 3.6 V |
| Operating Temperature | -40 C to +85 C (Industrial) |
| ADC | 10-bit, multiple channels |
| PWM Modules | High-speed PWM, dedicated for power conversion |
| Analog Comparators | Yes (for cycle-by-cycle current limit) |
| DSP Engine | 17x17-bit MAC, 40-bit accumulator, single-cycle barrel shifter |
| Debug Interface | JTAG (IEEE 1149.2), 2 hardware breakpoints |
| Programming | ICSP (In-Circuit Serial Programming) and IAP |
| Package | 44-pin QFN (8x8 mm) with exposed pad |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount |
| RoHS Status | Compliant |
| Process Technology | CMOS |
DSPIC33FJ16GS404-I/ML Pin Configuration
| Pin 1 | RP5/RESET — Remappable I/O / MCLR Reset (input) |
| Pin 2 | VSS — Ground reference |
| Pin 3 | PWM1L — PWM1 Low-side output |
| Pin 4 | PWM1H — PWM1 High-side output |
| Pin 5 | PWM2L — PWM2 Low-side output |
| Pin 6 | PWM2H — PWM2 High-side output |
| Pin 7 | PWM3L — PWM3 Low-side output |
| Pin 8 | PWM3H — PWM3 High-side output |
| Pin 9 | PWM4L — PWM4 Low-side output |
| Pin 10 | PWM4H — PWM4 High-side output |
| Pin 11 | VSS — Ground reference |
| Pin 12 | VDD — Digital supply voltage (3.3V) |
| Pin 13 | AN0/CMP1A — Analog input 0 / Comparator 1 input A |
| Pin 14 | AN1/CMP1B — Analog input 1 / Comparator 1 input B |
| Pin 15 | AN2/CMP2A — Analog input 2 / Comparator 2 input A |
| Pin 16 | AN3/CMP2B — Analog input 3 / Comparator 2 input B |
| Pin 17 | AN4 — Analog input 4 |
| Pin 18 | AN5 — Analog input 5 |
| Pin 19 | AVDD — Analog supply voltage |
| Pin 20 | AVSS — Analog ground |
| Pin 21 | NC — Not connected (per datasheet) |
| Pin 22 | NC — Not connected (per datasheet) |
| Pin 23 | RP0 — Remappable I/O 0 |
| Pin 24 | RP1 — Remappable I/O 1 |
| Pin 25 | RP2 — Remappable I/O 2 |
| Pin 26 | RP3 — Remappable I/O 3 |
| Pin 27 | RP4 — Remappable I/O 4 |
| Pin 28 | VSS — Ground reference |
| Pin 29 | VDD — Digital supply voltage (3.3V) |
| Pin 30 | OSC1/RC12 — Crystal oscillator input / I/O |
| Pin 31 | OSC2/RC13 — Crystal oscillator output / I/O |
| Pin 32 | RP6 — Remappable I/O 6 |
| Pin 33 | RP7 — Remappable I/O 7 |
| Pin 34 | RP8 — Remappable I/O 8 |
| Pin 35 | RP9 — Remappable I/O 9 |
| Pin 36 | RP10 — Remappable I/O 10 |
| Pin 37 | RP11 — Remappable I/O 11 |
| Pin 38 | RP12 — Remappable I/O 12 |
| Pin 39 | RP13 — Remappable I/O 13 |
| Pin 40 | RP14 — Remappable I/O 14 |
| Pin 41 | RP15 — Remappable I/O 15 |
| Pin 42 | VSS — Ground reference |
| Pin 43 | VDD — Digital supply voltage (3.3V) |
| Pin 44 | VCAP — Internal voltage regulator bypass - connect 10 uF + 0.1 uF to VSS |
Typical Applications
DSPIC33FJ16GS404-I/ML is suitable for 6 applications: Digital Switch-Mode Power Supply (SMPS) Control, Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and Inverter Control, LED Lighting Drivers and Dimming Control, BLDC / PMSM Motor Control, Class-D Audio Amplifier Control, Photovoltaic Micro-Inverter and Solar Optimizer.
Digital Switch-Mode Power Supply (SMPS) Control
The DSPIC33FJ16GS404-I/ML is purpose-built for closed-loop digital SMPS control. Its dedicated high-speed PWM modules drive the MOSFET or IGBT bridge at switching frequencies from 50 kHz to 1 MHz with sub-100 ns resolution, while the on-chip 10-bit ADC with paired Sample-and-Hold senses current and voltage in the same switching cycle. The 17x17-bit MAC DSP engine computes the control law every PWM period with deterministic latency, eliminating the timing jitter seen in software-PWM approaches. Reference design AN1292 demonstrates a 300 W half-bridge converter achieving 1% output regulation with this controller, and AN1078 uses the same architecture for PFC stages.
Recommended
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and Inverter Control
In UPS and solar inverter designs, the DSPIC33FJ16GS404-I/ML handles both the PFC front-end and the DC-AC inverter stage from a single controller. The analog comparators perform cycle-by-cycle current limiting in 25 ns - critical for short-circuit protection in IGBT bridges - while the 2048-byte RAM is sufficient to hold sine-lookup tables, PLL state, and grid-synchronization variables simultaneously. The industrial -40 C to +85 C temperature range and JTAG boundary-scan (IEEE 1149.2) make it production-friendly for grid-tie certifications. Microchip's digital-compensation reference designs (AN1279, AN1338) target this exact use case.
Recommended
LED Lighting Drivers and Dimming Control
Commercial and architectural LED drivers benefit from the DSPIC33FJ16GS404's combination of high-resolution PWM (for analog-like dimming to 0.1%) and the DSP MAC engine (for color-mixing calculations in tunable-white and RGB fixtures). The 16 KB Flash holds complete DALI or DMX-512 stack implementations with scripting headroom, while the 40 MIPS throughput guarantees flicker-free PWM at 4 kHz dimming frequency with no CPU stall. Designers can implement closed-loop thermal-foldback using the on-chip temperature indicator plus external NTC, all in firmware with no external op-amps.
Recommended
BLDC / PMSM Motor Control
Although the GS family targets power conversion, the DSPIC33FJ16GS404 is widely deployed in cost-sensitive BLDC and PMSM motor drives up to about 200 W - for example, fan pumps and appliance compressors. The dedicated high-speed PWM provides the 6-channel complementary outputs with programmable dead-time required for 3-phase bridges, and the ADC synchronized to the PWM center triggers BEMF sampling at the optimal moment. The MAC engine runs field-oriented control (FOC) at up to 20 kHz loop rate, leaving MIPS headroom for serial command processing. Designs needing QEI should step up to the dsPIC33FJ16MC family instead.
Recommended
Class-D Audio Amplifier Control
The DSPIC33FJ16GS404's high-resolution PWM and fast comparator feedback are well-matched to digital Class-D amplifier controllers. The 40 MIPS DSP engine implements closed-loop feedback at 250-500 kHz switching frequencies, achieving THD+N figures competitive with analog Class-D controllers while enabling digital volume, EQ, and limiter functions in firmware. The 16 KB Flash accommodates small audio processing blocks (biquads, look-up tables) without external memory, and the JTAG debug allows real-time inspection of modulator state during bring-up. Reference application note AN2134 covers a 100 W Class-D amplifier on this platform.
Recommended
Photovoltaic Micro-Inverter and Solar Optimizer
Micro-inverters and module-level power electronics (MLPE) use the DSPIC33FJ16GS404-I/ML for both MPPT control and grid-tie inverter modulation in a single IC. The high-speed PWM drives the push-pull or full-bridge stage at 50-100 kHz, while the ADC synchronously samples panel voltage, current, and grid voltage to compute instantaneous power for perturb-and-observe or incremental-conductance MPPT. The integrated DSP engine runs the anti-islanding algorithms required by UL1741/IEEE1547 with deterministic latency, and the 16 KB Flash fits the entire control + grid-protect stack. Industrial -40 C to +85 C operation handles outdoor junction-box thermal environments.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for DSPIC33FJ16GS404-I/ML — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | DSPIC33FJ16GS404-50I/ML | DSPIC33FJ16GS504-I/ML | DSPIC33FJ16GS504-50I/ML | DSPIC33FJ16GS404-50E/ML | DSPIC33FJ16GS404-E/ML |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology |
| Package | 44-pin QFN (8x8 mm) | 44-pin QFN (8x8 mm) - same | 44-pin QFN (8x8 mm) - same | 44-pin QFN (8x8 mm) - same | 44-pin QFN (8x8 mm) - same | 44-pin QFN (8x8 mm) - same |
| Maximum CPU Speed | 40 MIPS | 50 MIPS (+25%) | 40 MIPS (same) | 50 MIPS (+25%) | 50 MIPS (+25%) | 40 MIPS (same) |
| Flash Memory | 16 KB | 16 KB (same) | 32 KB (2x) | 32 KB (2x) | 16 KB (same) | 16 KB (same) |
| Data RAM | 2048 bytes | 2048 bytes (same) | 4096 bytes (2x) | 4096 bytes (2x) | 2048 bytes (same) | 2048 bytes (same) |
| Operating Temperature | -40 C to +85 C (Industrial) | -40 C to +85 C (same) | -40 C to +85 C (same) | -40 C to +85 C (same) | -40 C to +125 C (Extended) | -40 C to +125 C (Extended) |
| PWM Modules | High-speed PWM, dedicated | High-speed PWM, dedicated (same) | High-speed PWM, dedicated (same) | High-speed PWM, dedicated (same) | High-speed PWM, dedicated (same) | High-speed PWM, dedicated (same) |
| Approx. Price (qty 1000) | USD 3.05 | USD 3.20-3.40 | USD 3.55-3.80 | USD 3.70-3.95 | USD 3.30-3.55 | USD 3.15-3.35 |
Key Differentiators
- Integrated DSP engine with 17x17-bit MAC and single-cycle barrel shifter (vs Standard PIC24FJ microcontroller)
- Dedicated high-speed PWM with analog comparators for cycle-by-cycle current limit (vs Generic 16-bit MCU without dedicated power peripherals)
- On-chip 10-bit ADC synchronized to PWM with paired Sample-and-Hold (vs External ADC solution)
- Same QFN-44 footprint as the DSPIC33FJ16GS504 family for scalable migration (vs DSPIC33FJ16GS504-I/ML)
- JTAG boundary-scan (IEEE 1149.2) with BSDL file for production test (vs SWD-only debug architectures)
Design Notes
Estimated: based on the 44-pin QFN-8x8 mm package, the exposed thermal pad (EP) must be soldered to a continuous ground copper pour of at least 1 square inch (645 mm^2) on the top or inner PCB layer to achieve the 31.5 C/W thermal resistance specified in the Microchip dsPIC33F packaging notes. Insufficient EP copper will cause junction temperature to exceed the +85 C industrial limit at moderate ambient temperatures and may trigger thermal-shutdown reset during sustained SMPS operation.
Place a 10 uF + 0.1 uF ceramic decoupling pair on each VDD pin (pins 12, 29, 43) and a single 10 uF tantalum + 0.1 uF ceramic pair on AVDD (pin 19). The VCAP pin (44) requires a dedicated 10 uF + 0.1 uF low-ESR ceramic capacitor to ground within 5 mm - this is the internal 1.8V LDO bypass and incorrect placement causes oscillator drift and erratic Flash programming failures.
Route PWM outputs (PWM1H/L through PWM4H/L) on the top layer with a continuous ground return path on the layer below. Keep analog traces (AN0-AN5) short and away from PWM switching nodes; add a ground guard-ring around the analog section tied to AVSS. For SMPS applications, place the current-sense amplifier within 10 mm of the comparator input pins (CMP1A/B, CMP2A/B) to minimize common-mode noise pickup during the PWM edge transitions.
Do not leave the MCLR pin (pin 1, shared with RP5) floating - it must be pulled to VDD through a 10 kohm resistor with a 100 nF decoupling cap to ground for noise immunity. An undecoupled MCLR is the most common cause of spurious resets in high-noise SMPS environments. Also, configure unused I/O pins as outputs with logic-low and avoid remapping critical PWM channels to pins that overlap with JTAG TDO/TDI/TMS/TCK unless JTAG debugging is disabled in firmware.
For long PCB traces (>50 mm) on remappable I/O (RP0-RP15) carrying signals above 10 MHz, add a 33 ohm series-termination resistor to dampen reflections. In Class-D audio and high-frequency SMPS designs, the 17x17-bit MAC can emit brief current transients on the VDD rail - a ferrite bead in series with the VDD supply trace combined with the recommended 10 uF + 0.1 uF decoupling keeps these transients below the 3.6V absolute maximum.
Compliance Information
RoHS and REACH compliant per Microchip product page. Industrial temperature grade (-40 C to +85 C). AEC-Q100 not applicable - choose dsPIC33F automotive-graded variants for AEC-Q100 requirements.
