Atmel Introduces World's First Family of ARM7-Based Flash Microcontrollers for 8-Bit Applications

Strategic Insights -

Atmel Corporation, a leading designer and manufacturer of advanced semiconductors, has introduced the world's first family of ARM7-based flash microcontrollers with prices starting at under $3. The AT91SAM7S32 and AT91SAM7S64 are the first members of the Small pincount Smart ARM7 Microcontrollers (SAM7S-series) with Flash densities of 32kByte and 64kBytes, respectively. These 32-bit microcontrollers integrate a complete set of secure operation functions, including a watchdog clocked by an on-chip RC oscillator, power supply monitors, and hardware protection of the Flash memory.

The AT91SAM7S series focuses on providing improved deterministic performance for real-time applications, achieving single-cycle instruction access from embedded Flash at 27 MIPS. Its Advanced Interrupt Controller enhances the basic interrupt facilities of the ARM7 processor to give vectored priority interrupt handling in a minimum number of instruction cycles. The porting and qualification of legacy code is facilitated through powerful debug capabilities centered around a JTAG In-Circuit-Emulation interface.

Key Takeaways:

  • The AT91SAM7S32 and AT91SAM7S64 microcontrollers are the first members of the SAM7S-series, which offers 32kByte and 64kBytes of Flash memory, respectively.
  • The microcontrollers integrate a complete set of secure operation functions, including a watchdog clocked by an on-chip RC oscillator, power supply monitors, and hardware protection of the Flash memory.
  • The AT91SAM7S series achieves single-cycle instruction access from embedded Flash at 27 MIPS, providing improved deterministic performance for real-time applications.
  • The Advanced Interrupt Controller enhances the basic interrupt facilities of the ARM7 processor to give vectored priority interrupt handling in a minimum number of instruction cycles.
  • The translation and qualification of legacy code is facilitated through powerful debug capabilities centered around a JTAG In-Circuit-Emulation interface.
  • The microcontrollers have a USB 2.0 full-speed device port for PC connectivity, and a wide variety of communication and control interfaces including an 8-channel 10-bit ADC.
  • Jacko Wilbrink, Atmel's ARM-based Product Manager, commented on the significance of the SAM7S-series: "The SAM7S-series are the first products of an exciting new family of Smart ARM Microcontrollers that fill the gap between 8-bit microcontroller cost and 32-bit real-time performance."

Statistics:

  • The AT91SAM7S32 microcontroller is available in a 48-lead LQFP package at a suggested resell of $2.90.
  • The AT91SAM7S64 microcontroller is available in a 64-lead LQFP package at $4.05.
  • The AT91SAM7S series achieves single-cycle instruction access from embedded Flash at 27 MIPS.
  • The microcontrollers have a USB 2.0 full-speed device port for PC connectivity.

Sources:

  • Atmel Corporation, "Atmel Introduces World's First Family of ARM7-Based Flash Microcontrollers for 8-Bit Applications" [press release]
  • Atmel Corporation, "AT91SAM7S Series datasheet"
  • Jacko Wilbrink, Atmel's ARM-based Product Manager, quoted in [press release]