Product category:
Microprocessors, Microcontrollers and DSPs
News Release from: Atmel Corporation | Subject: AT91SAM7L series
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 27 February 2008
Microcontrollers are made for saving
power
In power down mode, the AT91SAM7L consumes only a typical 100nA, which is believed to be a unique feature for 32bit MCUs.
Atmel has a new series of high-performance ultra-low-power ARM7TDMI-based microcontrollers, the AT91SAM7L series, embedding power switches controlling multiple power islands and programmable voltage regulators to reduce power consumption in active and standby modes There is a rapidly growing demand for more power efficient products that is driven by a market trend towards environmentally friendly, battery operated and portable products like media players, remote controls, weather stations, calculators, toys, control panels, thermostats and handheld medical devices such as glucose meters, blood pressure meters and fitness monitors
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 18 Nov 2005 at 8.00am (UK)
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In active mode, the power consumption is optimised via a programmable operating voltage, operating frequency, and peripheral clock activity, and the use of DMA instead of the CPU for data transfers.
The SAM7L operates in single supply mode down to 1.8V and consumes 0.5mA/MHz typical in active mode when executing code out of its Flash memory.
The power consumption in the different standby modes is controlled via power switches, scalable voltage regulators, and the use of sampling techniques on voltage monitors, power-on reset and brownout detector instead of continuous measurement.
This provides a higher level of granularity than is available in competing products, while achieving at least the same levels of power saving.
In power down mode, the AT91SAM7L consumes only a typical 100nA, which is believed to be a unique feature for 32bit MCUs.
In power down mode, only the fast wakeup (FWUP) pin is supplied, allowing a system wake-up through a simple push button.
This feature can be used to control power on/off in applications such as calculators.
In backup mode, only the supply controller, the zero-power POR and the 32kHz oscillator remain running.
The RTC, the 2Kbyte backup SRAM, the BOD, the charge pump, the LCD voltage regulator and the LCD controller can be set on or off separately.
This mode can be used when time, context or display need to be saved even if the main application is not running.
In wait mode, the 2MHz RC oscillator provides a rapid wakeup time for fast external event management.
The AT91SAM7L128/64 embeds LCD features.
These include a segment LCD controller, built-in drivers and the programmable LCD power supply for contrast control comprising a regulated charge pump and an adjustable voltage regulator.
It is intended for monochrome passive liquid crystal displays (LCD) with up to 10 common terminals and up to 40 segment terminals.
The AT91SAM7L series has two members, the AT91SAM7L128 and the AT91SAM7L64 with 128 and 64Kbyte of Flash memory, respectively.
The AT91SAM7L series also integrates a wide range of peripheral functions, including USART, SPI, timer counter, RTC and A/D convertors.
The AT91SAM7L128/64 system controller includes a reset controller capable of managing the power-on sequence.
Correct device operation can be monitored by a built-in brownout detector and a watchdog timer running off an integrated oscillator.
This complete set of system functions minimises the number of external components as the chip can run at maximum speed without any external oscillator.
The SAM7L is supplied with a low-cost starter kit, the AT91SAM7L-STK, and runs the comprehensive set of application development tools that has been built up over the years for Atmel's ARM-based microcontrollers.
The AT91SAM7L128 and the AT91SAM7L64 are available now in 128-pin LQFP and 144-pin 10 x 10mm 0.8mm-ball-pitch BGA packages.
Pricing is below US $4 in volumes of 10,000 units.
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