25 June 2008

Atmel Licenses ARM Cortex-M3 For Next Gen MCUs

ARM has confirmed that Atmel, a member of the ARM Connected Community, has licensed ARM’s Cortex-M3 32-bit RISC processor for the next generation of its AT91SAM microcontrollers.

The move reinforces Atmel's commitment to the ARM architecture, complementing its existing licenses for the ARM7TDMI, ARM926EJ-S and ARM1176JZ-S processors.

"The ARM Cortex-M3 processor gives our customers the option of taking advantage of the latest developments in ARM's 32-bit RISC technology in terms of performance and power consumption, together with all the benefits of the AT91SAM family architecture and IP, as well as the ARM ecosystem. The addition of the ARM Cortex-M3 processor strengthens Atmel's leadership in the fast growing embedded 32-bit microcontroller market. It complements our current market-leading product offering of AT91SAM and AVR32 microcontrollers,” commented Alfredo Vadillo, Atmel's Managing Director for ARM Microcontrollers.

"Atmel's decision to add the Cortex-M3 processor to its existing licenses for the ARM7TDMI, the ARM926EJ-S and the ARM1176JZ-S processors indicates its on-going commitment to the ARM architecture," added Eric Schorn, VP Marketing, Processor Division, ARM. "Atmel joins the growing ranks of ARM Cortex-M3 processor implementers, and reinforces our architecture as the reference for 32-bit microcontrollers."

Atmel's planned AT91SAM3 Flash MCU family will combine the ARM Cortex-M3 processor with the system implementation features of the AT91SAM series, including multi-layer internal buses and an enhancement to the DMA for system peripherals and distributed peripheral data controllers (PDCs). These 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 said.

Atmel said its high-density on-chip Flash memory reduces the application chip count, shortens boot and program load times and improves system security.

Atmel's AT91SAM3 Flash microcontroller family based on the ARM Cortex-M3 processor will be available in the fourth quarter of 2008, the company confirmed.