MCUs extend typical battery life by 300% says Energy Micro

Designed for energy sensitive applications with high memory requirements, the 32bit Giant Gecko (GG) is designed to provide Flash configurations up to 1024KB with the added option of embedded usb connectivity. According to Energy Micro, there will be 48 EFM32GG mcus offering a choice of 64, 128, 256, 512 and 1024KB Flash memory blocks and a RAM of 32KB or 128KB. The pin and software compatibility with the existing Gecko product line means designers can develop products using the existing Gecko mcu and migrate to Giant Gecko when the higher memory parts enter production. Package options will include QFN64, QFP100 and BGA112. Built around the ARM Cortex-M3 processor architecture, the Giant Gecko, Gecko and Tiny Gecko mcus are said to use quarter of the energy of alternative 8, 16 or 32bit microcontrollers. With a wake up time of 2µs and current consumption of 180µA per MHz executing code from Flash, 900nA in deep sleep mode and 20nA in shut off mode, Energy Micro claims that the mcus are proven capable of extending typical battery life by 300%. The Giant Gecko's embedded USB connectivity option will be USB2.0 compliant at full speed (12Mbit/s), integrating 2KB endpoint buffers and handling up to 10 endpoints. It will provide support for USB host and on-the-go configurations as well as bootloader over USB. Additional extended communication options offered by Giant Gecko will include dual I²C and up to 5 USART/UART serial interfaces. The EFM32 Giant Gecko from Energy Micro will begin sampling in Q1'2011.