|
The Atmel Corporation has announced production availability of the next-generation Atmel 32-bit AVR UC3L microcontroller (MCU) with picoPower technology and embedded capacitive touch controller peripherals. Target applications for these products include audio processing applications such as USB and Bluetooth headsets, game pads and advanced voice or touch-enabled human interface devices. The 32-bit AVR UC3L series includes high-performance, low-power capabilities in an extremely compact physical form factor, at 5.5 x 5.5 mm TLLGA package, to address the size constraints of portable applications.
The new MCUs cut static power consumption by 90 percent down to 9 nA. This figure is lower than the tantalum capacitor decoupling the board power supply and comparable to leakage currents in even the most advanced battery technologies. Active power consumption has been reduced to 165µA/MHz, a 45 percent improvement. The performance of the 32-bit UC3L core enables further power savings by running at far lower speed than conventional MCUs when providing the same performance.
The power saving is enabled through the Atmel picoPower low-power technology leadership that addresses all aspects of a microcontroller’s power consumption, including active operation modes as well as all sleep modes. The enabling technology innovations include peripheral SleepWalking, where peripherals can operate in extremely low-power states and make qualified decision during CPU sleep.
The Atmel AVR UC3L series is the first 32-bit MCUs with picoPower low power technology. The L series delivers a wide range of unique capabilities to embedded engineers using 32-bit microcontrollers, such as a built-in capacitive touch peripheral module. These devices also include Atmel FlashVault code protection to allow the on-chip flash to be partially programmed and locked, creating secure on-chip storage for software intellectual property.
Additional innovative technologies, which were industry firsts in the UC3L series, include the interrupt eliminating Peripheral Event System, Clock Failure Protection, Spread Spectrum Clocks with fast startup times, a Frequency Meter, an RTC with Crystal Precision Tuner and calendar mode, and a PWM output on all 36 I/O pins.
- •New compact broadband amplifier operates across 0.5 GHz - 2.5 GHz frequency range
- •As the semiconductor market shifts into higher gear so the risk of counterfeits rises
- •Rutronik stocking compact thick film resistor with 1100 W power rating from Vishay
- •DLP Technology keeps Texas Instruments at top of MEMS market
