We detect you are using an unsupported browser. For the best experience, please visit the site using Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge. X

AVR® and PIC® Microcontrollers for Functional Safety


When safety is critical to the success of your design, our proven experience will help you meet functional safety requirements while minimizing cost and development time. Our Functional Safety Ready 8-bit microcontrollers (MCUs) encompass the latest hardware safety features to help you achieve ISO 26262, IEC 61508 and IEC 60730 certification and increase reliability and redundancy in your applications. These devices also come with dedicated safety documentation and a development tool ecosystem that will help you qualify your projects.

Functional Safety Standards


ISO 26262 for Automotive Applications

ISO 26262 (ASIL)

Functional Safety for Automotive Applications

This standard encompasses Automotive Safety Integrity Levels (ASILs) for electrical and electronic systems used in series production road vehicles, excluding mopeds.

IEC 61508 for Industrial Applications

IEC 61508 (SIL)

Functional Safety for Industrial Applications

This standard encompasses Safety Integrity Levels (SILs) for safety-critical electrical and electronic systems used in industrial applications.

IEC 60730 Safety for Household Appliances

IEC 60730

Functional Safety for Household Appliances

This standard encompasses safety standards for automatic controls in equipment designed to operate in households.

Functional Safety Ready


A product that contains the “Functional Safety Ready” designation offers integrated hardware safety features, Failure Modes, Effects, and Diagnostic Analysis (FMEDA) reports, safety manuals, and in some cases, diagnostic software libraries. We also offer a TÜV SÜD®-certified C-compiler and a complete and fully qualified development environment.

Functional Safety- Ready Icon

We offer the following resources to support your designs using our Functional Safety Ready devices:

Safety Manual Icon With Red Circle

Safety Manual

The safety manual offers a detailed description of the various diagnostic mechanisms and provides recommendations on how to use the device for the safest operation.

FMEDA Report Icon With Red Circle

FMEDA Report

The FMEDA report quantifies the device’s fault modes, their Failure-In-Time (FIT) rate distribution and corresponding detection methods to help create a coverage plan. You can read the FMEDA white paper for more details. 

Hardware Features Icon With Red Circle

Hardware Features

The hardware safety features are built-in features that include Power-On Reset (POR), Brown-Out Reset (BOR), Windowed Watchdog Timer (WWDT) and Cyclical Redundancy Check (CRD) to improve operational safety and reliability.

Development Tools Icon With Red Circle

Development Tools

Our development ecosystem includes a TÜV SÜD-certified MPLAB® XC8 compiler, documents for MPLAB X Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and MPLAB programmers and debuggers to help you qualify your design for functional safety.

    Functional Safety Packages

Watch this video to learn more about the different  functional safety packages for PIC and AVR  microcontrollers and what they contain.

Need Some Help?


We are here to support you. Contact our client success team to get assistance with the functional safety requirements of your design.











Contact Us for Business Service

Functional Safety Features Available in AVR and PIC MCUs


We integrate dedicated Core Independent Peripherals (CIPs) and other functions into some AVR and PIC devices to help increase the reliability and monitoring capabilities for safety-critical applications. These features ensure that end applications operate as intended with safe shutdown if any exception or issue arises.

Legend:
● Available in all devices    ○ Available in some devices    - Not Available

Category Feature PIC16F MCUs PIC18F MCUs tinyAVR® MCUs megaAVR® MCUs AVR Dx MCUs
Memory Hardware Cyclical Redundancy Check (CRC) Module
Nonvolatile Memory (NVM) Read/Write Protection
Boot Segment Protection
Hardware Stack Overflow/Underflow Protection - - -
System Reset and Safe Code Execution Power-On Reset (POR)
Software Reset    
Under Voltage Detection:
Brown-Out Reset (BOR),
Voltage Level Monitoring (VLM),
Programmable Low-Voltage Detect (PLVD),
High/Low Voltage Detect (HLVD)
Over Voltage Detection (HLVD) - - - -
Asynchronous Device Reset
Watchdog Timer (WDT) + Internal RC Oscillator
Windowed Watchdog Timer (WWDT)
Fail Safe Clock Monitor/Clock Failure Detect - -
Sleep Disable - -
Configuration Change Protection -
Lockable Registers    
Non-Maskable Interrupts    
Safe Communication CAN Port Loopback Mode
UART Internal Loopback    
GPIO Protection ESD Protection
Peripheral Pin Select (PPS)/Port Mux
Internal Voltage Reference
Configuration Change Protection -
Interrupt Priority Configuration -
Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) Hardware Shutdown - - - -

8-bit MCUs Supporting Functional Safety