Atmel launched SAM D20 MCU family based on ARM Cortex M0+ last year, and at Embedded World 2014, the company has launched three new MCU families featuring ARM ultra low power core with SAM D10, SAM D11, and SAM D21 families and their corresponding Xplained PRO development boards.
Atmel four SAM D families target different applications and price points:
- SAM D10 – The smallest member of the SAM D family in terms of memory, pin count, and features.
- SAM D11 – Adds full-speed USB not available on the SAM D10.
- SAM D20 – “Offers a rich set of peripherals, flexibility, and ease-of-use with low power consumption.”
- SAM D21 – Adds features such as full-speed USB, DMA, high-end timers/counters to D20 design.
I’ve compared the four families in the table below:
| SAM D10 | SAM D11 | SAM D20 | SAM D21 | |
| # MCU in Family | 4 | 4 | 15 | 12 |
| MCU Core | ARM Cortex-M0+ based MCU running up to 48MHz | |||
| Memory | 8 to 16KB embedded Flash 4KB SRAM |
16 to 256KB embedded Flash 2 to 32KB SRAM |
||
| Power Consumption | <70µA/MHz | |||
| DMA and Event system | Yes | |||
| SERCOM (Serial Communication Modules) | 3x in SAM D10D 2x in SAM D10C |
3x in SAM D11D 2x in SAM D11C |
6x in SAM D20J and SAM D20G, 4x in SAM D20E |
6x in SAM D21J and SAM D21G 4x in SAM D21E |
| USB | N/A | Full-Speed USB Device | N/A | Full-Speed USB Device and embedded Host |
| ADC/DAC | 12-bit ADC (SAM D10D: up to 10 channels; SAM D10C: 5 channels) ; 10-bit DAC | 12-bit ADC (SAM D11D: up to 10 channels; SAM D11C: 5 channels) ; 10-bit DAC | 12-bit ADC (SAM D20J: 20 channels; SAM D20G: 14 channels; SAM D20E: 10 channels) ; 10-bit DAC | 12-bit ADC (SAM D21J: 20 channels; SAM D21G: 14 channels; SAM D21E: 10 channels) ; 10-bit DAC |
| Hard touch support | Yes | |||
| Package | 14- and 20-pin SOIC and 24-pin | 32-, 48- and 64-pion QFP and QFN | ||
Development can be performed with Atmel Studio and Atmel Software Framework, and several evaluations kits, namely Xplained Pro boards, and corresponding expansions boards: QT1 for touch controller, I/O1 adding a light and temperature sensor, a micro SD card and hardware to test UART, SPI & I2C, PROTO1 adding a bread-boarding area, and OLED1 for an 128×32 OLED display with LEDs and buttons.
SAM D21 samples and tools are available now with volume production in May 2014, but you’ll have to wait a little longer for SAM D10 and D11 families with engineering samples and tools scheduled for Q2 2014. SAM D21 Xplained PRO evaluation kit can be purchased for $39, and appears to be in stock. You can find details for each one of the 35 Cortex M0+ MCU on Atmel’s SAM D page.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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