Atmel Introduces AVR MCUs with Unique Combination of USB, Battery Charging and Analog Features

Beijing and San Jose, California (ots/PRNewswire) -

Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) announced today new AVR(R)
microcontrollers combining USB controller and high performance analog
features. The ATmega16U4 and ATmega32U4 reduce system cost in battery
powered devices such as gaming accessories.

Battery powered devices can take advantage of being connected to
a USB port to recharge. However, modern batteries require
sophisticated algorithms to accelerate and optimize charging, while
USB brings further constraints on the battery charging since it is
limited both in the voltage and the maximum current it can provide.
The new AVR devices allow optimized battery charging combined with
USB functions. The analog to digital converter can be used to sense
motion or pressure in the end application and the high-speed PWM is
ideal for low cost motor control.

Gaming peripherals, such as sophisticated joysticks also require
a number of analog to digital conversion channels and several PWM
channels to drive force-feedback motors. The new devices have a rich
feature set that address those needs and optimize the global system
cost. This includes a 10-bit ADC with 12 channels; a built-in
temperature sensor allowing compensating thermal effects on analog
performance; a programmable gain x1, x10, x40 and x200 giving more
flexibility to measure differential voltages for current monitoring.
A high-speed timer with three PWM channels with complementary outputs
and programmable dead-times allows 8-bit resolution PWM with an
industry-best frequency of 500 kHz, up to 11-bit resolution PWM with
a frequency over 60 kHz.

A hardware flow control on the USART eases the connection to
other devices when bridging with USB at high baud rates. Digital
inputs with TTL thresholds ease interface with 3V devices in mixed
5/3V applications. An On-Chip 3.3V regulator can deliver up to 50 mA
and supply external devices in USB powered applications. Jitter and
accuracy of the On-Chip 8 MHz calibrated RC oscillator can support
serial communication without crystal. All devices include a hardware
multiplier, one USART, one SPI, one TWI, two 8-bit and two 16-bit
timers with PWM and 26 programmable I/Os.

ATmega16U4 features 16 Kbytes of In-System Programmable (ISP)
Flash, 1 Kbytes of RAM and 512 bytes of EEPROM. ATmega32U4 features
32 Kbytes of In-System Programmable (ISP) Flash, 2.5 Kbytes of RAM
and 1 Kbytes of EEPROM. They are available in 44-pin packages.

"The new microcontrollers complement the existing family of AVR
USB microcontrollers serving a variety of embedded host or peripheral
USB applications," said Jean-Christophe Lawson, Atmel's AVR Product
Marketing Manager. "Smaller foot print and enhanced analog
performance was requested for several USB-based applications and we
are pleased to introduce a new combination of features that will
optimize the performance and cost of the customer's applications."

An extensive software library is offered to support the
most-relevant USB classes for the embedded market: Mass Storage
Device (MSD), Human Interface Device (HID), Device Firmware Upgrade
(DFU), Communication Device Class (CDC), Audio Class, etc. Examples
of composite devices actually combine several classes in one device,
for instance Audio and HID can be combined to make a headset with
remote control, toys, etc.

The parts are supported by the latest release of AVR Studio(R)
which is available from the Atmel website. Both JTAGICE MkII at
US$299 and AVR Dragon at US$49 allow in-system programming and
emulation through On-Chip Debug resources (OCD). The STK(R)600-TQFP44
includes a dedicated adapter board so these specific devices can
connect on the generic STK600 Starter Kit. By June 2008, this will be
complemented by the EVK527 a standalone evaluation kit allowing the
evaluation of HID, mass storage, audio and battery charging
applications.

Availability and Pricing

ATmega32U4 engineering samples are available now and both devices
will be shipping in volume in Q2 2008. ATmega32U4 is offered in
TQFP44 and QFN/MLF44 packages at US$2.65 in quantities of 10k units
and ATmega16U4 is offered in a QFN44 package at US$2.40 in quantities
of 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) 2008 Atmel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Atmel(R), logo
and combinations thereof, AVR(R), AVR Studio(R), STK(R) and others,
are registered trademarks, or trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its
subsidiaries. Other terms and product names may be trademarks of
others.

Information:
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
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

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