Atmel Introduces AVR32 Microcontroller Which Lowers Industry's Best Power Consumption by 63%

San Jose, California (ots/PRNewswire) -

- picoPower AVR32 AT32UC3L Microcontroller offers less than 0.48
mW/MHz Active and below 100 nA Sleep Mode, and has Embedded
Capacitive Touch Peripheral and Event System that Eliminates
Interrupt Handling and Guarantees Deterministic Response Time

Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) announced today the
availability of its 32-bit AT32UC3L AVR(R)32 microcontroller with
Atmel's picoPower(TM) low power technology and embedded capacitive
touch controller peripheral. The AT32UC3L is the industry's lowest
power 32-bit MCU with less than 0.48 mW/MHz in active mode executing
real-life applications. The device is also the first 32-bit
microcontroller to feature a built-in capacitive touch interface,
making the device suitable in a wide range of embedded applications.
The introduction of AT32UC3L expands Atmel's 32-bit MCU portfolio
consisting of ARM and AVR32 products.

picoPower technology sets new standard for 32-bit MCU power
consumption. Atmel's picoPower technology enables the AT32UC3L to
operate on less than 1.5 uA with the 32 KHz Real Time Clock active,
and below 100 nA with all oscillators stopped. The device features
Atmel's true 1.6V technology, which keeps the device fully
operational in systems with supply voltage ranging from 1.62 to
3.60V.

Embedded Capacitive Touch Peripheral. The AT32UC3L's built in
capacitive touch peripheral unit makes capacitive touch as easy as
encorporating just another peripheral. The device supports capacitive
touch buttons and sliders, and the hardware support enables the
addition of capacitive touch to the application with no additional
software overhead. The capacitive touch hardware also allows the
microcontroller to wake up from sleep on touch.

Atmel's QTouch(TM) technology provides the industry's most robust
touch solution with a high signal to noise ratio that improves the
system's design margin, increases EMC performance and raises ESD
tolerance. It is ideal for applications where reliability is
required, such as consumer user interfaces, industrial and automotive
applications and those where high moisture levels are present.

FlashVault Code Protection. The AT32UC3L also includes a brand
new flash security technology named FlashVault. FlashVault allows the
on-chip flash to be partially programmed and locked, creating secure
on-chip storage for secret code and software intellectual property.
Code stored in the FlashVault will execute as normal, but cannot be
read, copied or debugged. This allows a device with FlashVault code
protection to carry a piece of valuable software such as a math
library or an encryption algorithm from a trusted location to a
potentially untrustworthy partner where the rest of the source code
can be developed, debugged and programmed.

Peripheral Event System Eliminates Interrupts Processing. In
addition to capacitive touch and secure memory, the AT32UC3L brings
numerous innovations into the 32-bit microcontroller space with new
functionality, improved reliability, and reduced cost. The AT32UC3L
introduces Atmel's Peripheral Event System for the first time on a
32-bit microcontroller. The innovative peripheral event system allows
peripherals to send signals (events) directly to other peripherals
without involving the CPU. By offloading to the peripheral event
system the repetitive task of forwarding these events, the CPU will
reduce drastically the time consuming handling of interrupts. This
will free up more time for the CPU to handle other tasks in the
application, and often allow the CPU to remain longer in one of the
AVR32's many energy saving sleep modes.

Clock Failure Protection. The UC3L has a state-of-the art clock
system with clock failure protection, Frequency Meter, Real Time
Clock with Calendar mode, a precision crystal oscillator tuner and
accurate Digital Frequency Locked Loop. The peripherals include a 9
channel 12-bit ADC and 8 channel Analog Comparator. And the device is
the first microcontroller from Atmel to feature an 8-bit PWM output
on every I/O pin.

Development Tools

Atmel's AVR32 UC3L is supported by the AVR32 Studio integrated
development environment used for Atmel's AVR32 product line. It is
available free of charge on Atmel's website. IAR's Embedded Workbench
also supports AVR32 devices. Debugging tools include Atmel's AVRONE!,
STK(R) 600 Starter Kit, and JTAGICE mkII on-chip debugger.

Availability and Pricing

Samples of the AT32UC3L are available now. The 64K byte flash
version has a suggested retail price of US$1.96 in 10k units. The 16K
byte flash version has a suggested retail price of US$1.47 in 10k
units.

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) 2009 Atmel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Atmel(R), Atmel
logo and combinations thereof, AVR(R) and others, are registered
trademarks, STK(R), picoPower(TM), QTouch(TM) and others are
trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other terms and
product names may be trademarks of others.

Information:
More information can be found at: www.atmel.com/avr32.
Press Contacts:
Helen Perlegos, Public Relations
Tel: +1-408-487-2963, Email: helen.perlegos@atmel.com
Oyvind Strom, Product Marketing Director AVR32
Tel: +47-72-88-43-88, Email: oyvind.strom@atmel.com

ots Originaltext: Atmel Corporation
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
Helen Perlegos, Public Relations, +1-408-487-2963,
helen.perlegos@atmel.com, or Oyvind Strom, Product Marketing Director
AVR32, +47-72-88-43-88, oyvind.strom@atmel.com, both of Atmel
Corporation