Atmel Announces ARM Cortex-M3 License, Releases Latest Flash MCU Family
(Product News, 3 Jul 2008)
Atmel Corp. has licensed the ARM Cortex-M3 32-bit RISC processor for the next generation of its AT91SAM ARM technology-based microcontrollers. This reinforces Atmel's commitment to the ARM architecture and complements its existing licenses for the ARM7TDMI, ARM926EJ-S and ARM1176JZ-S processors.
Atmel's planned AT91SAM3 Flash MCU family will combine the ARM Cortex-M3 processor with the outstanding system implementation features that have placed the AT91SAM series at the forefront of its market. These include the multi-layer internal buses, an enhancement to the DMA for system peripherals and distributed peripheral data controllers (PDCs) that give the AT91SAM family its high internal data bandwidth, and enable intensive data processing and high-speed data transfers to take place concurrently, when compared to other implementations of the Cortex architecture. Atmel's high-density on-chip Flash memory reduces the application chip count, shortens boot and program load times and improves system security.
The AT91SAM3 family has Atmel's uniform peripheral register structure that simplifies application programming, and enables software modules to be easily transferred from one family member to another.