Atmel's world's lowest power solution based on ARM Cortex-M

Atmel has announced that it is currently in trial production of its ARM® Cortex-M solution based on the industry's lowest power consumption, which has been reduced to 35µA/MHz in work mode and 200nA in sleep mode. The ultra-low-power SAM L family broadens the Atmel|SMART 32-bit ARM MCU portfolio, extending battery life from years to decades and reducing the number of battery replacements required for various types of devices such as fire alarms, healthcare, medical, wearables, and devices located in rural, agricultural, offshore, and other remote locations. The SAM L21 combines ultra-low power with ample flash and SRAM memory to run applications and wireless stacks at the same time, three features that are the cornerstones of most iot applications. The SAM L21, now in preproduction, also comes with a development platform that includes Xplained PRO kits, code libraries, and Atmel Studio support.

This new family of products consumes one-third of the power of comparable solutions on the market today and integrates the company's proprietary ultra-low power picoPower® technology. When running EEMBC® ULPBench™, the industry's low-power reference standard, the SAM L21 achieved an impressive 185 points, the highest score of any Cortex M-based processor in the world, and significantly higher than the 143 and 123 points announced by other vendors. Atmel's SAM L21 series consumes less than 940nA at full 40kB SRAM retention, real-time clock and calendar functions, and only 200nA in deepest sleep mode.

Atmel's ultra-low-power SAM L21 product family is ideal for a range of applications, including Internet of Things (IoT), consumer electronics, industrial, medical and other battery-powered devices. This low-power innovation in the Atmel | SMART family is made possible by a number of technological breakthroughs, including:

●  The industry's best operating mode current consumption.

●  SRAM reverse bias technology to reduce leakage current in sleep mode.

●  In sleep mode, it can not only stop switching power consumption by turning off the isolated clock signal, but also avoid sub-area power supply and completely eliminate leakage current.

●  The SAM L21 peripherals support Sleepwalking technology, allowing the peripherals to request a clock signal when they need to wake up from sleep mode and then perform tasks without having to power up the CPU flash memory and other support systems.

● Atmel's proprietary event system features allow peripherals to work together to solve complex tasks, using only the lowest number of gates and achieving the lowest power consumption possible.

●  Ultra-low power capacitive touch sensing peripherals can operate in all operating modes and control touch wake up.

Pat Sullivan, vice president of marketing for Atmel's Microcontroller Business group, said: "Our SAM L21 MCUS are helping customers solve the power challenges faced by battery-powered iot devices. As a leader in low-power technology, Atmel is committed to delivering truly differentiated and unmatched ultra-low power solutions optimized for the Internet of Things to the entire industry. When combined with Atmel wireless and security solutions, we provide the perfect iot platform for the industry."

Markus Levy, founder and President of EEMBC, said: "When Atmel launched its SAM L21 product line last year, I praised the ultra-low current consumption achieved in both work and sleep mode, and after seeing the EEMBC ULPBench scores for the SAM L21, I was even more convinced. With Atmel's proprietary picoPower technology, they have broken through the industry's low power consumption bottleneck for Cortex-M-based processors and controllers. "This ULPBench score is very impressive and makes more people see the company's expertise in the field of low power and other innovative technologies."