Atmel Corp. has launched a low power microcontroller family based on the ARM Cortex-M0+ targeted at new devices being created for the Internet of Things (IoT).
The SAM L21 family is designed with power consumption to reach only 40 µA/MHz in active mode and 200nA in sleep mode as well as support for full-speed USB host and device, Event System and Sleepwalking, capacitive touch sensing and more. At this power level, Atmel said the MCU family consumes just one-third the power of comparable products.
Atmel said that with billions of devices being predicted to be rolled out for the IoT by 2020, the need for low power MCUs will be a necessity because of the need to not overload utility grids or requiring frequent battery changes.
Based on Atmel’s picoPower peripherals, the SAM L21 MCUs will be a good fit for IoT handheld and battery-operated devices for the consumer, industrial and portable medical spaces.
Reza Kazerounian, senior VP and GM of the Microcontroller Business Unit at Atmel, said in a statement that engineers of IoT devices are no longer interesting “in expanding the life of a battery to one year” but instead need technologies that will “increase the life of a battery to a decade or longer.” That’s where the SAM L21 family will come into play in order to meet the demands of future devices, Kazerounian said.
The SAM L21 family is currently sampling and is slated for availability in February of next year. Atmel is demonstrating the MCUs at Electronica 2014 this week.
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