Atmel's AVR XMEGA Redefines System Performance for 8/16-bit Microcontrollers

San Jose, California (ots/PRNewswire) -

- Ultra low power 1.6 Volt microcontroller family

Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) announced today the AVR(R)
XMEGA(TM) family, an important addition to their successful AVR
microcontrollers. The system performance of AVR XMEGA expands the
market reach for 8/16-bit microcontrollers. With second generation of
picoPower(TM) technology, XMEGA is the only family of Flash
microcontrollers with true 1.6V operation. The ultra low power
consumption is combined with fast 12-bit analog functions, a DMA
controller, an innovative Event System and a crypto engine. All
features free CPU resources which minimize power consumption and
increase system performance.

"With a modern AVR CPU, Atmel is capable to serve both the 8- and
16-bit microcontroller market," said Ingar Fredriksen, Atmel's AVR
Product Marketing Director. "Many competitors are forced to offer
32-bit solutions since their old 8- or 16-bit CPU does not meet the
customer's requirements. However, they struggle with price, power
consumption, ease of use, EMC performance and analog features. AVR
XMEGA combines Atmel's picoPower technology with extended
task-handling capability and advanced peripherals in a large family
of devices."

The XMEGA microcontrollers range from 16 to 384 KB of Flash and
44- to 100-pin packages. They operate from 1.6V to 3.6V and achieve
up to 32 MIPS at 32 MHz. The XMEGA devices are general purpose
microcontrollers well suited for a variety of applications including
audio systems, ZigBee(R), power tools, medical, board controllers,
networking, metering, optical transceivers, motor control, white
goods and any battery powered product.

Ultra Low Power -- Atmel's picoPower technology already used in
megaAVR(R) products, is recognized as market leader in low power.
With AVR XMEGA, using second generation picoPower, battery life is
further increased by additional features like true 1.6V operation and
a combined Watchdog Timer- and Brown-Out-Detector current consumption
of only 1 uA. True 1.6V operation means all functions including
Flash reprogramming, EEPROM write, analog conversions and internal
oscillators are operative. In battery powered applications like
mobile phones, XMEGA devices can be connected to a 1.8V (+/- 10%)
regulated power supply to save cost and increase battery life. AVR
XMEGA delivers industry leading power consumption numbers. In Power
Down mode with RAM retention, current consumption is 100 nA. A
Real-Time Clock function using a 32 kHz crystal oscillator has a
power consumption of only 650 nA.

Modern CPU Built for Scalability -- The 8/16-bit AVR CPU is
designed for high-level languages like C. It has 16- and 32-bit
arithmetic support and 16- and 24-bit memory pointers. Single cycle
operation and 32 working registers connected to the Arithmetic Logic
Unit makes AVR more efficient than other CPUs. Based on the solid AVR
CPU platform, Atmel now offers one of the largest families of code
compatible devices ranging from 1 KB 8-pin tinyAVR(R) to 384 KB
100-pin XMEGA. By standardizing on AVR MCUs, customers save
investments and shorten time-to-market by reusing development tools,
software and hardware design.

Innovative Event System -- Like a reflex in the human body, the
innovative XMEGA Event System enables inter-peripheral communication
without CPU or DMA usage. This ensures 100% predictable and short
response time. Up to 8 simultaneous events or interrupt conditions
in the peripherals can automatically start actions in other
peripherals. The Event System removes bottlenecks associated with
multiple and/or frequently triggering interrupts. There is no
software overhead and critical tasks are handled with a guaranteed
latency shorter than any interrupt response time.

Leading Analog Performance -- The XMEGA Analog-to-Digital
Converter has 12-bit resolution and provides up to 2 million samples
per second with hardware support for oversampling to increase
resolution to 16 bits without extra cost. Programmable gain stage,
differential inputs, temperature sensor, and accurate internal
voltage references removes external components and saves cost. AVR
XMEGA also includes 12-bit Digital-to-Analog Converters and advanced
Analog Comparators.

Fast Crypto Engine -- XMEGA has a hardware crypto engine that
supports Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and Data Encryption
Standard (DES). The crypto engine increases encrypted communication
speed from 10 kbps to 2 Mbps compared to software solutions. AVR
XMEGA is the only solution for high bandwidth encrypted data
communication in long life battery powered applications, like toll
road tags, wireless sensor nodes and ZigBee.

Development Tools -- AVR XMEGA is supported by the easy-to-use
tool chain already existing for AVR devices. The AVR Studio(R)
integrated development environment is available free of charge on
Atmel's web site. The STK(R)600 Starter Kit and JTAGICE mkII on-chip
debugger supports every microcontroller in Atmel's AVR and AVR32 UC3
product families.

Availability and Pricing

The first devices, ATxmega128A1 and ATxmega64A1 are both offered
in 100-pin TQFP and BGA packages and are available now. Volume prices
for 10k units are US$3.75 and US$3.50, respectively. Other XMEGA
devices will be available during 2Q or 3Q of 2008.

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.

(C) 2008 Atmel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Atmel(R), logo
and combinations thereof, AVR(R), AVR Studio(R), STK(R) and others,
are registered trademarks, picoPower(TM), XMEGA(TM) and others are
trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other terms and
product names may be trademarks of others.

Information:

Atmel's AVR XMEGA product information may be retrieved at
http://www.atmel.com/xmega.

For further information on AVR, go to http://www.atmel.com/avr.

Press Contacts:
Philippe Faure, Marketing Communications Director -- Microcontrollers
Tel: +33-2-40-18-18-87, Email: philippe.faure@atmel.com
Helen Perlegos, Public Relations
Tel: +1-408-487-2963, Email: hperlegos@atmel.com

Web site: http://www.atmel.com

ots Originaltext: Atmel Corporation
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Contact:
Philippe Faure, Marketing Communications Director, Microcontrollers,
+33-2-40-18-18-87, philippe.faure@atmel.com, or Helen Perlegos,
Public Relations, +1-408-487-2963, hperlegos@atmel.com, both of Atmel
Corporation