ARM Cortex M0+ MCUs feature segment LCD controller

18th August 2015

Nat Bowers

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Expanding its family of secure, ARM Cortex M0+-based MCUs, Atmel has announced the SAM L22 series. These devices offer an ultra-low power capacitive touch with a segment LCD controller that can deliver up to 320 segments, making them suitable for low-power applications such as thermostats, electric/gas/water meters, home control, medical and access systems.

The IoT is driving connectivity in various battery-powered devices making security and ultra-low power critical features in these devices. The SAM L22 series delivers advanced security features with 256-bit AES, cyclic redundancy check, true random number generator, Flash protection and tamper detection to ensure information is securely stored, delivered and accessible. To get the lowest possible power consumption, the devices use Atmel’s proprietary picoPower technologies and smart low-power peripherals that work independently of the CPU in sleep modes.

In addition to segment LCD supporting up to eight communication lines, capacitive touch sensing and built-in security measures, the SAM L22 series features up to 256kB of Flash and 32kB of SRAM, crystal-less USB device, programmable serial communication modules and Atmel’s patented Event System and Sleepwalking technologies.

To accelerate designs, the SAM L22 Atmel Xplained Pro - a professional evaluation board featuring an on-board debugger and standardised extension connectors - is available now. The SAM L22 Xplained Pro is fully supported by Atmel Studio, a free IDE that features power profiling tools for the SAM L22 board, making it easy to optimise the application and calculate average power consumption. Atmel Xplained development kits are low-cost, easy-to-use, fast prototyping and evaluation platforms for Atmel AVR and Atmel | SMART ARM-based MCUs. The kit is suited for demonstrating Atmel MCU/MPU features and capabilities and can be customised with a wide range of expansion boards.

Oyvind Strom, Senior Director of MCUs, Atmel, commented: “As more devices in the consumer, industrial and home automation segments are becoming smarter and connected, these devices require a number of unique features including ultra-low power, security, touch capability with an LCD - all features that are currently provided in the SAM L22. Atmel is already engaged with a number of alpha customers developing metering, thermostat and industrial automation solutions based on the new Atmel | SMART SAM L22 series.”

The Atmel SAM L22 series is sampling now with production release scheduled for December 2015.