Atmel Unleashes Highest-Performing ARM Cortex-M7 based MCUs with Superior Memory Architecture and Connectivity for Automotive, IoT and Industrial Markets

San Jose, Calif., January 7, 2015 –Atmel® Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML), a global leader in microcontroller (MCU) and touch solutions, today launched four new series of devices to the Atmel | SMART™ ARM® Cortex®-M7-based MCUs. The new series deliver the highest performing Cortex-M7 based MCUs to the market with exceptional memory and connectivity options for design flexibility making them ideal for the automotive, IoT and industrial connectivity markets.

All devices allow customers to scale-up performance and deliver SRAM and system functionality, while keeping the Cortex-M processor family ease-of-use and maximizing software reuse. The devices contain advanced memory architectures with up to 384KB of multi-port SRAM memory out of which 256KB can be configured as tightly coupled memory delivering zero wait state access at 300MHz. With over four times the performance of current Atmel ARM Cortex-M based MCUs running up to 300MHz, larger configurable SRAM up to 384kB and higher bandwidth peripherals, the new devices give designers the right connectivity, SRAM and performance mix for their industrial, connectivity and automotive designs. All devices come with high-speed USB On-the-Go (OTG) and on-chip high-speed USB PHY and Flash memory densities of 512kB, 1MB and 2MB.

Broadening the Atmel | SMART ARM Cortex-M based MCU portfolio, the new SAM E70 and the SAM S70 are ideal for connectivity and general purpose industrial applications, while the auto-grade SAM V70 and SAM V71 are ideal for in-vehicle infotainment, audio amplifiers, telematics and head unit control.

Atmel | SMART SAM E and SAM S Series

Atmel’s SAM S70 series is based on the ARM Cortex-M7 core plus a floating point unit (FPU) extending the general purpose product portfolio with maximum operating speeds up to 300MHz, up to 2MB of Flash, dual 16KB of cache memory and up to 384KB of SRAM with an extensive peripheral set including high-speed USB host and device plus high-speed PHY, up to 8 UARTs, I²S, SD/MMC interface, a CMOS camera interface, system control and analog interfaces.

In addition to the SAM S70 series features, Atmel’s SAM E70 series include a 10/100 Ethernet MAC and Dual CAN-FD interfaces with advanced analog features making them ideal for connectivity applications. The SAM E70 is upwards compatible with Atmel’s SAM4E series.

Atmel | SMART SAM V Series
The automotive-qualified SAM V70 and V71 series offer unique Ethernet AVB support and Media LB, which, when combined with the Cortex-M7 DSP extensions, make the series ideal for infotainment connectivity and audio applications. The series also offers the latest CAN 2.0 and CAN flexible data rate controller for higher bandwidth requirements.

“As one of the first ARM licensees, we are excited to be among the first suppliers to introduce a portfolio of ARM Cortex-M7-based MCUs,” said Jacko Wilbrink, Sr. Marketing Director, Atmel Corporation. “Our family of Cortex-M7-based devices broaden the Atmel | SMART Cortex-M-based MCUs and provide a robust feature set tailored for the automotive, industrial, consumer and IoT markets giving designers the next level of performance, along with advanced high-speed connectivity, high density on-chip memory and a solid ecosystem to meet every designers needs. We look forward to seeing more applications in the market adopt our Cortex M7-based devices.”

“Atmel was a lead partner for the ARM Cortex-M7 processor launch in October 2014 and the milestone of shipping automotive-qualified SoCs demonstrates significant progress,” said Richard York, Vice President, Embedded Marketing, ARM. “Atmel’s broad family of Cortex-M7 based MPUs provide high performance, advanced connectivity, flexible memory options and a solid ecosystem tailored for the automotive, industrial and general connectivity markets.”

Ecosystem

Atmel is working closely with the ARM ecosystem partners on development tool support and RTOS BSPs for the new Atmel | SMART ARM Cortex-M7-based MCUs. Software development tools are available on Atmel Studio, the ARM MDK and IAR EWARM. Operating system support include Keil® RTX, Segger embOS, FreeRTOS and Express Logic Thread-X. A comprehensive set of peripheral driver examples and open source middleware is provided in Atmel’s Software Package. A full featured ATSAMV71-XULT Xplained evaluation kit supports the four series. Additionally, the automotive series will come with complete AUTOSAR support and Ethernet-AVB stack.

Availability and Pricing

Atmel is currently sampling the SAM E70, SAM S70, SAM V70 and SAM V71 series to select customers. General sampling for the SAM E70 and S70 series and the availability of the ATSAMV71-XULT Xplained kit is scheduled for February 2015.

Pricing for the SAM S70 starts at $4.80 USD for 10k-piece quantities. Pricing for the Xplained board is $125 USD.

About Atmel | SMART

Atmel | SMART ARM-based products deliver the platform for intelligent, connected devices in the era of IoT, wireless and energy efficiency. These solutions include embedded processing and connectivity—as well as software and tools, designed to make development faster and more cost-effective to bring the best-in-class products to market. Atmel | SMART MCUs combine powerful 32-bit ARM cores with industry-leading low-power technology and intelligent peripherals.

About Atmel Corporation

Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML) is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of microcontrollers, capacitive touch solutions, 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 intelligent and connected solutions focused on the industrial, consumer, communications, computing and automotive markets.