Microchip has just introduced two new families of micro-controllers based on ARM Cortex-M4F with SAM D5x and SAM E5x series sporting up to 1 MB of dual-panel flash and 256 KB of SRAM both with ECC support. Both families also support QSPI flash with XIP (eXecute In Place) support, features an SD card controller and a capacitive touch controller, with SAM E5x family also adding support for two CAN-FD ports and Ethernet.
Microchip SAM A5x/E5x key features and specifications:
- MCU Core – ARM Cortex-M4F core running at 120 MHz with single precision Floating Point Unit (FPU)
- Memory – Internal memory architecture with user configurable Tightly Coupled Memory, System memory, Memory Protection Unit and 4KB Combined I-cache and D-cache; up to 256KB ECC SRAM, up to 1MB ECC flash
- Storage I/F – Quad Serial Peripheral Interface(QSPI) with Execute in Place (XIP) Support
- Peripherals
- Up to 2x Secure Digital Host Controller (SDHC)
- Peripheral Touch Controller (PTC) supporting up to 256 channels of capacitive touch
- Full speed USB with embedded Host/device
- Dual 1Msps 12-bit ADCs up to 32 channels with offset and gain error compensation.
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Dual 1Msps, 12-bit DAC and analog comparator
- Up to 8x Serial communication (SERCOM) ports configurable as UART/USART, ISO 7816, SPI or I2C
- SAM E5x series only:
- 10/100M Ethernet MAC with IEEE1588 (E53/E54)
- Dual Bosch CAN-FD 1.0 Controller (E51/E54)
- Security – Symmetric (AES) and Asymmetric(ECC) Encryption, Public Key Exchange Support (PUKCC), TRNG and SHA- based memory integrity checker
- Power Modes – Supports 5 Low power modes with 65µA/MHz Active Power Performance
- Packages – 48 to 128-pin package options
- Temperature Range – -40°C to 85°C
Some SAMD5x SKUs are pin-to-pin compatible ARM Cortex M0+ based SAMD2X MCU, so you can easily upgrade existing design with a more powerful MCU core. There only one main “sub-family” with SAMD5x: SAMD51, but SAME5x has three sub-families depending on Ethernet and CAN options:
- SAME51 – 2x CAN-FD
- SAME53 – Ethernet MAC
- SAME54 – 2x CAN-FD and Ethernet MAC
Microchip has used the higher end version of SAME54 processor in SAM E54 Xplained Pro Evaluation Kit in order to help customer kick-start development as soon as possible. Key features for ATSAME54-XPRO board:
- MCU – Microchip ATSAME54P20A microcontroller
- Storage – 256 Mbit QSPI Flash, SD/SDIO card connector, AT24MAC402 serial EEPROM with EUI-48 MAC address
- Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet (RJ45) via KSZ8091RNA PHY
- USB – micro USB interface, host, and device
- Expansion
- Parallel Capture Controller header (ArduCAM compatible)
- CAN connector
- Three Xplained Pro extension headers
- Debugging
- 10-pin Cortex Debug Connector with SWD
- 20-pin Cortex Debug + ETM Connector with SWD and four bit trace
- Embedded Debugger
- Embedded current measurement circuitry (XAM)
- Security – Microchip ATECC508 CryptoAuthentication device
- Misc – 1x reset button, 1x programmable button, 1x QTouch PTC button, 1x yellow user LED, backup super capacitor, 32.768 kHz & 12 MHz crystals
- Power Supply – 5V via micro USB port
The board and all Atmel SAMD5x / E5x processor are supported by Atmel Studio 7 IDE, and Atmel START online tool to configure peripherals and software.
Microchip SAM D5x and SAM E5x are in available in volume production, with pricing starting at $2.43 for 10K orders. SAM E54 Xplained Pro Evaluation Kit is available for $84.99. Adafruit is also working on – likely cheaper – SAMD51 based Feather M4 and Metro M4 boards that will support Arduino (See github for current code).
More details can be found on SAM D and SAM E MCU product pages.
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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