The Texas Instruments MSP430F5438AIZCAT is a 16-bit MCU from the MSP430F5xx series, running at 25 MHz. It carries 256 KB of Flash program memory and 16 KB of RAM, with 87 I/O lines and a 16-channel 12-bit ADC.
Industrial temperature range — what it means for deployment
Rated for -40°C to 85°C ambient, this MCU is qualified for factory-floor enclosures, outdoor telecom cabinets, and engine-bay-adjacent electronics where the board sees thermal cycling. The internal oscillator and brown-out detect keep the core stable across the span; no external supervisory IC is needed for basic reset integrity.
256 KB Flash and 16 KB RAM — sizing the firmware budget
256 KB of Flash holds a moderate-sized application stack — a real-time control loop with a communication protocol stack, a bootloader, and a small data-logging buffer. The 16 KB RAM (organized as 16K x 8) supports a few hundred variables and a couple of UART/SPI DMA buffers; if your application needs a large frame buffer or extensive lookup tables, watch the RAM ceiling.
Lifecycle: last-time-buy window
TI has marked the MSP430F5438AIZCAT as end-of-life (EOL). The product status remains active per the latest record, but the EOL flag means a last-time-buy window is open or imminent.