Atmel Offers Industry's First ARM7 Flash MCUs to Support GByte-Plus SDRAM, NAND Flash and CompactFlash
posted on
Oct 23, 2006 04:06AM
Atmel Offers Industry's First ARM7 Flash MCUs to Support GByte-Plus SDRAM, NAND Flash and CompactFlash
Universal Memory Interface Has Error Correcting Code Controller That
Protects NAND Flash From Lost Bits
ROUSSET, France, Oct. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Atmel(R) Corporation
(Nasdaq: ATML), has added three new microcontrollers to its SAM7 family of
ARM7(TM)-based USB MCUs. Available in Flash memory densities of 32-, 256-,
and 512-Kbytes, the SAM7SE microcontrollers are the only ARM7-based MCUs to
include an external bus interface (EBI) that provides access to massive
amounts of external NAND Flash, SDRAM, CompactFlash(R), SRAM and ROM
storage. The ability to efficiently store and retrieve over a gigabyte of
data makes SAM7SE MCUs ideal for data logging applications such as
ambulatory medical monitoring.
Industry's first ARM7 microcontrollers with SDRAM, NAND Flash interface
and ECC. The EBI on Atmel's AT91SAM7SE MCUs supports 32-bit NAND Flash,
SDRAM and CompactFlash memories in TrueIDE mode. It includes a NAND Flash
controller with a complementary error-correcting code controller (ECC) that
compensates for bits that are lost by NAND flash memory over time. A
built-in memory controller offers up to eight configurable chip selects and
supports a wide range of 16- and 32-bit static devices including SRAM, ROM,
Flash, memory mapped LCD and FPGA.
Allows low cost, low power, portable implementations of data logging
applications. Data logging applications have usually been implemented with
costly, power-hungry ARM9(TM)-based microcontrollers because they were the
only MCUs available that supported SDRAM and NAND Flash memories.
Conventional ARM7 MCUs require intensive bit manipulation through the
general purpose I/O in these applications which significantly reduces the
available processing power. With the advent of Atmel's SAM7E family,
designers can now use these smaller-footprint, ARM7-based MCUs to implement
battery-powered, portable versions of these applications.
Security bit and MPU protect on-chip Flash from external accesses. A
major problem when external memory or logic is used is that it makes the
on-chip Flash vulnerable to external, potentially unauthorized, access.
Atmel's SAM7E microcontrollers have several features that secure the code:
1) the MCU cannot boot from external memory; 2) a Flash security bit
disables the Fast Flash Programming Interface (FFPI) and JTAG access to the
on-chip Flash memory; and 3) a memory protection unit (MPU) can be
configured to enforce code execution from on-chip Flash, thereby preventing
execution from an outside source.
Dual-bank memory on 512 KB MCU supports enhanced in-application
programming. Dual-bank Flash memory on the 512 KByte SAM7SE allows true
read- while-write capability so systems can be reprogrammed while
continuing to operate. The dual-bank memory also protects the system from
power failures or other errors that can cause an unrecoverable system
failure.
PDC supports high speed 25 Mbps SPI with direct store in external
memory. Modern communications protocols have maximum data rates that
conventional ARM7 MCUs cannot support. For example full-speed USB operates
at 12 Mbps and high-speed SPI operates at 25 Mbps. At only 4 Mbps,
conventional ARM7s become so bogged down that they cannot effectively
process data. Like Atmel's other SAM7 MCUs, the SAM7SE-series has
an11-channel peripheral DMA controller (PDC) that increases on-chip
bandwidth to 10 Mbps while maintaining 96% of the CPU's cycles for
application processing. The PDC can store the streaming content directly in
the external NAND Flash or SDRAM without CPU intervention.
Peripherals support real-time deterministic applications. The
SAM7SE-series includes the same supervisory features found on 8-bit MCUs
including a brown-out detector, power-on- reset, real-time clock, crystal
oscillator, watchdog timer and three 16-bit timers. Communication
interfaces include three USARTs, USB, TWI, I2S (SSC) and SPI. The device
also has four pulse width modulators (PWM), an 8-channel, 10-bit
analog-to-digital controller (ADC) and 88 I/O pins.
Three PIO controllers allow simultaneous peripheral access. Traditional
MCUs multiplex the peripherals, frequently creating a bottleneck when there
are multiple peripheral accesses. Three individual PIO controllers avoid
this problem. When the EBI is not in use, all peripherals can be accessed
simultaneously.
Pricing and availability. The AT91SAM7SE512 is available now in 128 pin
Green QFP or BGA packages and priced at $8.43 and $9.38, respectively, in
quantities of 10,000. The AT91SAM7SE256 and AT91SAM7SE32 will be available
in early 2007.
About Atmel
Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of
microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and
radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's broadest
intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is able to provide
the electronics industry with complete system solutions. Focused on
consumer, industrial, security, communications, computing and automotive
markets, Atmel ICs can be found Everywhere You Are(R).
NOTE: Atmel(R), logo and combinations thereof, Everywhere You Are(R)
and others, are registered trademarks, or trademarks of Atmel Corporation
or its subsidiaries. ARM(R) is a registered trademark of ARM ltd. Other
terms and product names may be trademarks of others.
Information:
For further information on Atmel's AT91SAM Smart ARM-based
Microcontrollers, go to http://www.atmel.com/products/AT91/ .
Press Contacts:
Peter Bishop, Communications Manager, Atmel Rousset
Phone: +33-0-4-42-53-61-50, Email: peter.bishop@rfo.atmel.com
Helen Perlegos, Corporate PR - USA and Asia
Phone: +1-408-451-2855, Email: hperlegos@atmel.com
Veronique Sablereau, Corporate Communications Manager - Europe
Phone: +33-1-30-60-70-68, Fax: +49-71-31-67-24-23
Email: veronique.sablereau@atmel.com