Atmel Offers Industry's First ARM7 Flash MCUs to Support GByte-Plus SDRAM, NAND Flash and CompactFlash

Rousset, France (ots/PRNewswire) -

- Universal Memory Interface Has Error Correcting Code Controller
That Protects NAND Flash From Lost Bits

ROUSSET, France, Oct. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Atmel(R)
Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML), has added three new microcontrollers to
its SAM7 family of ARM7(TM)-based USB MCUs. Available in Flash memory
densities of 32-, 256-, and 512-Kbytes, the SAM7SE microcontrollers
are the only ARM7-based MCUs to include an external bus interface
(EBI) that provides access to massive amounts of external NAND Flash,
SDRAM, CompactFlash(R), SRAM and ROM storage. The ability to
efficiently store and retrieve over a gigabyte of data makes SAM7SE
MCUs ideal for data logging applications such as ambulatory medical
monitoring.

Industry's first ARM7 microcontrollers with SDRAM, NAND Flash
interface and ECC. The EBI on Atmel's AT91SAM7SE MCUs supports 32-bit
NAND Flash, SDRAM and CompactFlash memories in TrueIDE mode. It
includes a NAND Flash controller with a complementary
error-correcting code controller (ECC) that compensates for bits that
are lost by NAND flash memory over time. A built-in memory controller
offers up to eight configurable chip selects and supports a wide
range of 16- and 32-bit static devices including SRAM, ROM, Flash,
memory mapped LCD and FPGA.

Allows low cost, low power, portable implementations of data
logging applications. Data logging applications have usually been
implemented with costly, power-hungry ARM9(TM)-based microcontrollers
because they were the only MCUs available that supported SDRAM and
NAND Flash memories. Conventional ARM7 MCUs require intensive bit
manipulation through the general purpose I/O in these applications
which significantly reduces the available processing power. With the
advent of Atmel's SAM7E family, designers can now use these
smaller-footprint, ARM7-based MCUs to implement battery-powered,
portable versions of these applications.

Security bit and MPU protect on-chip Flash from external accesses.
A major problem when external memory or logic is used is that it
makes the on-chip Flash vulnerable to external, potentially
unauthorized, access. Atmel's SAM7E microcontrollers have several
features that secure the code: 1) the MCU cannot boot from external
memory; 2) a Flash security bit disables the Fast Flash Programming
Interface (FFPI) and JTAG access to the on-chip Flash memory; and 3)
a memory protection unit (MPU) can be configured to enforce code
execution from on-chip Flash, thereby preventing execution from an
outside source.

Dual-bank memory on 512 KB MCU supports enhanced in-application
programming. Dual-bank Flash memory on the 512 KByte SAM7SE allows
true read-while-write capability so systems can be reprogrammed while
continuing to operate. The dual-bank memory also protects the system
from power failures or other errors that can cause an unrecoverable
system failure.

PDC supports high speed 25 Mbps SPI with direct store in external
memory. Modern communications protocols have maximum data rates that
conventional ARM7 MCUs cannot support. For example full-speed USB
operates at 12 Mbps and high-speed SPI operates at 25 Mbps. At only 4
Mbps, conventional ARM7s become so bogged down that they cannot
effectively process data. Like Atmel's other SAM7 MCUs, the
SAM7SE-series has an11-channel peripheral DMA controller (PDC) that
increases on-chip bandwidth to 10 Mbps while maintaining 96% of the
CPU's cycles for application processing. The PDC can store the
streaming content directly in the external NAND Flash or SDRAM
without CPU intervention.

Peripherals support real-time deterministic applications. The
SAM7SE-series includes the same supervisory features found on 8-bit
MCUs including a brown-out detector, power-on- reset, real-time
clock, crystal oscillator, watchdog timer and three 16-bit timers.
Communication interfaces include three USARTs, USB, TWI, I2S (SSC)
and SPI. The device also has four pulse width modulators (PWM), an
8-channel, 10-bit analog-to-digital controller (ADC) and 88 I/O pins.

Three PIO controllers allow simultaneous peripheral access.
Traditional MCUs multiplex the peripherals, frequently creating a
bottleneck when there are multiple peripheral accesses. Three
individual PIO controllers avoid this problem. When the EBI is not in
use, all peripherals can be accessed simultaneously.

Pricing and availability. The AT91SAM7SE512 is available now in
128 pin Green QFP or BGA packages and priced at US$8.43 and US$9.38,
respectively, in quantities of 10,000. The AT91SAM7SE256 and
AT91SAM7SE32 will be available in early 2007.

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, Atmel ICs can be found Everywhere
You Are(R).

NOTE: Atmel(R), logo and combinations thereof, Everywhere You
Are(R) and others, are registered trademarks, or trademarks of Atmel
Corporation or its subsidiaries. ARM(R) is a registered trademark of
ARM ltd. Other terms and product names may be trademarks of others.

Information:

For further information on Atmel's AT91SAM Smart ARM-based
Microcontrollers, go to http://www.atmel.com/products/AT91/ .

Press Contacts:
Peter Bishop, Communications Manager, Atmel Rousset
Phone: +33-0-4-42-53-61-50, Email: peter.bishop@rfo.atmel.com
Helen Perlegos, Corporate PR - USA and Asia
Phone: +1-408-451-2855, Email: hperlegos@atmel.com
Veronique Sablereau, Corporate Communications Manager - Europe
Phone: +33-1-30-60-70-68, Fax: +49-71-31-67-24-23
Email: veronique.sablereau@atmel.com

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

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Contact:
Peter Bishop, Communications Manager of Atmel Rousset,
+33-0-4-42-53-61-50, or peter.bishop@rfo.atmel.com, or Helen
Perlegos, Corporate PR - USA and Asia, +1-408-451-2855, or
hperlegos@atmel.com, or Veronique Sablereau, Corporate Communications
Manager - Europe, +33-1-30-60-70-68, fax, +49-71-31-67-24-23, or
veronique.sablereau@atmel.com,
all of Atmel Corporation.