Atmel Broadens Popular AVR MCU Family: More Memory, Connectivity, Integration And Ultra-Low Power

SAN JOSE, Calif., March 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Atmel ^® Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML), a leader in microcontroller and touch technology solutions, today announced 14 new devices in its widely adopted Atmel AVR ^® microcontroller (MCU) family, providing more options to meet unique design requirements. Used by well over 100,000 engineers worldwide, AVR microcontrollers are regarded for their performance, power efficiency and flexibility across many application areas. Adding more memory, connectivity peripherals and system integration, the newest devices further extend the advantages of the AVR family, while supporting a broader array of application areas including consumer electronics, capacitive touch, utility metering, home automation and medical.

These AVR MCUs meet a common demand across multiple application areas: low power consumption. All devices in the portfolio are designed for the lowest possible power consumption using Atmel picoPower ^® technology, operating down to 1.62V while maintaining all functionality and short wake-up times. The AVR MCU portfolio also includes devices that support Atmel QTouch ^® Library for capacitive touch functions.

New AVR devices include:

• Atmel AVR XMEGA® C MCUs: 8-/16-bit general-purpose MCUs with Full-Speed USB, AVR XMEGA C devices deliver the product line's highest Flash and SRAM memory densities as well as the largest 8-bit MCU on the market with up to 384KB Flash and up to 32KB of SRAM. The eight new devices available are ideal for consumer, industrial and home automation applications.
• Atmel tinyAVR® ATtiny1634 MCUs: Small-package, ultra-low power devices, the ATtiny 1634 MCUs feature multiple easy-to-use digital interfacing options—including more communication interfaces than existing devices in the product line—and up to 16KB Flash memory. This new device is ideal for interfacing and control in industrial and consumer applications.
• Atmel AVR UC3 L3 MCUs: The AVR UC3 L3 MCUs feature ultra-low power consumption and more Flash memory, integrated USB controller, I2S support, audio bit-stream digital-to-analog converter (ABDAC) and package options with more pins. With the three new devices available, designers can now implement more advanced algorithms requiring more memory in their low-power applications, such as consumer products.
• Atmel AVR UC3 D4 MCUs: Low-power, feature-rich, entry-level 32-bit MCUs, the AVR UC3 D4 devices offer enhanced performance and rich features—including a hardware-based QTouch capacitive touch interface and Full-Speed USB. The two new devices available are ideal for high data throughput applications in areas such as USB human interface, biometrics, bridging and industrial control.

"The newest additions to the Atmel AVR MCU family provide design engineers with more options than ever to meet their unique performance, power, price and connectivity requirements," said Ingar Fredriksen, senior director of AVR products at Atmel. "Whether they need a small and powerful chip for a smartphone or a lot of memory for a utility metering system, designers can count on our AVR MCUs to deliver the functions and features required to innovate and differentiate in these markets."

AVR XMEGA C MCUs: Largest Memory DensityAs with other members of the Atmel AVR XMEGA family, AVR XMEGA C MCUs include functions for real-time control, sensor and control interfaces, mixed signal and USB communication. The devices deliver 384KB of Flash memory and 32KB of SRAM memory with only 700nA of current consumption in sleep mode with real-time clock (RTC) running, full SRAM and register retention and 5uS wake-up time. The new devices offer a unique combination of large memory size combined with low sleep current and short wake-up time. Similar memory size devices in the market today have up to 50X higher maximum sleep current, forcing many design engineers to turn to more expensive multi-chip power management solutions as the memory requirements grow in applications where low sleep current is vital for the battery life time.

Design engineers can now create products offering long battery life while reducing their bill of materials (BOM) costs. AVR XMEGA C MCUs are ideal for products including: thermostats; home and building control systems with RF and ZigBee connectivity and large software stacks; user interfaces for thermostats and home control systems with small, ultra-low power touch-based displays; and mobile phone SIM card expanders with applications for payments, access control and banking.

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