Atmel Announces New ARM Cortex-M0+ Microcontroller Family

Leveraging two decades of microcontroller experience and success with the company's easy-to-use AVR- and ARM-based products, the new series combines innovative and proven technologies including intelligent peripherals with Atmel's Event System and capacitive touch support for button, slider and wheel capability and proximity sensing. The new SAM D20 series is also supported by the latest version of Atmel Studio and Atmel Software Framework, the integrated development platform for developing and debugging Atmel ARM Cortex-M and Atmel AVR® MCU- based applications.

Bosch Sensortec GmbH is among the first adopters of the new Atmel SAM D20 device. Customers for our next-generation self-contained 9-axis absolute orientation sensor (BNO055) will benefit from the same high performance with lower power consumption. Atmel's SAM D20 device optimizes Bosch Sensortec's sensor fusion software at a level that was not previously possible, said Dr. Stefan Finkbeiner, CEO and General Manager, Bosch Sensortec GmbH, a global provider of micro-mechanical sensors for the consumer electronics market.

Atmel's global leadership in MCUs and its partnership with ARM has enabled the company to launch its Cortex-M0+ ARM-based family, said Reza Kazerounian, Sr. Vice President and General Manager, Microcontroller Business Unit, Atmel Corporation. In this era of the Internet of Things, MCUs, such as the SAM D20, are at the heart of every smart, connected device. Our SAM D20 family adds to our broad MCU portfolio, ranging from our industry-leading 8-bit AVR MCUs to our high-end Cortex-A5 MPUs. All our MCUs include unique peripheral sets, ultra-low power consumption, a complete integrated development platform, and easy-to-use development kits so designers can bring their products quickly to market.

Key Features of the Atmel SAM D20 Series
Atmel's SAM D20 Cortex-M0+ ARM-based series integrates several popular features including high-precision 12-bit analog and internal oscillators, up to eight 16-bit timer/counters, real-time performance, peripheral event system, and flexible clocking options and sleep modes.

The new devices also include a serial communication module (SERCOM module) that can be configured from the application to act as an USART, UART, SPI and I2C; each device in this new family includes four to six SERCOM modules. The new devices are also designed for a simple and intuitive migration between devices with identical peripheral modules, hex compatible code, pin compatible migration paths, and a linear address map.

The family supports button, slider and wheel touch capability as well as proximity without the need for external components, and features 14 new devices available in 32-, 48- and 64-pin package options with 16 to 256KB of Flash memory.

Evaluation Kit
To accelerate design, the SAM D20 Xplained PRO evaluation kits are available today for USD $39. The kit features a 64-pin, 256KB SAM D20 device along with a programmer/debugger and hardware to evaluate both the processor and the peripherals. The Xplained PRO kit also comes pre-loaded with software that can easily be re-programmed, debugged and prototyped without any additional tools.