Atmel Cortex-M4 mcus offer lowest power, highest efficiency
1 min read
Designed to consume 66% less power than competing devices, Atmel's newly launched ARM-Cortex-M4 processor based microcontrollers are said to provide 'unrivalled' wake up times while delivering the highest total application performance in all operating modes.
Incorporating the company's proprietary ultra low power picoPower technology, the SAM4L devices are optimised to run on 90µA/MHz in active mode and deliver 28 Coremark/mA. According to Atmel, they consume 1.5µA in sleep mode with full ram retention and 700nA in back-up mode.
"We are excited to integrate our proven AVR picoPower technology into the new SAM4L family of Cortex M4-based devices," said Alf-Egil Bogen and Vegard Wollan, co-inventors of the AVR architecture, Atmel. "By incorporating some of the best technologies of the AVR platform into our new Cortex-M4 mcu portfolio of products, we're delivering unprecedented low power to the ARM community and a new level of compatibility and familiarity between our two popular microcontroller families."
The new devices are targeted at battery powered consumer, industrial and portable healthcare products. Additional features include a Peripheral Event System that allows peripherals to communicate directly with one another without using the cpu, and SleepWalking technology that allows a peripheral to qualify and evaluate incoming data, also without any use of the cpu.
