AN INTRODUCTION TO
ATMEL's AVR 8-Bit MCUs
LOW POWER, LOW VOLTAGE, HIGH PERFORMANCE, ISP PROGRAMMING, EASY TO USE!
Thanks to their outstanding performance characteristics, ATMEL's AVR MCUs continue to
capture significant market share. In fact, they are being used in a wider range of
applications today than ever before. Equipped with 1K to 128K Bytes of ISP Flash, EEprom,
multiplier, timer, PWM and serial interfaces, these microcontrollers have a proven history
of delivering high performance, extremely low power consumption, low operating voltages
and ease of use to customers around the globe. Thanks to the nearly completed
"shrink", from 0.5 µ to 0.35 µ, ATMEL's newest AVR products feature even lower
power consumption and operating voltages, additional power-save modes, extended
performance and an even simpler design in.
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The forerunners to ATMEL's newest
microcontrollers already rank among the industry leaders in power consumption, but the
revamped line will take that one step further. As for operating voltage, some of the
newest models offer a low 1.8V. For the ATmega162, power consumption at 3V has been
reduced to 1µA in the power down mode, and ATMEL is planning to introduce additional low
power versions in the near future.
The shrink also means that processor performance has been doubled. Legacy are specified
for an average clock frequency of 8 MHz at 5V, which equates to a max. performance of 8
MIPS. In this case, the relation of MIPS to clock frequency is 1, because virtually all
instructions are processed by the AVR core in a single clock cycle. ATMEL's newest
processors are specified for 16 MHz at 5V, which yields a max. performance of 16 MIPS. All
of the new devices additionally feature self-programming flash memory, which means they
are able to re-program their own integrated flash memory via a boot loader. Those
processors equipped with 16K flash memory and above also feature an integrated JTAG
interface that can be used for trouble-free debugging, or as an additional programming
interface.
ATMEL also offers the tried and true ATSTK500 starter kit, which can be used for either
parallel or serial programming of the AVR chip. Because the ATmega128 and ATmega169 (with
LCD driver) are only available in either TQFP or MLF packages, ATMEL also offers plug-in
expansion modules for the ATSTK500: the ATSTK501 (ATmega128) and the ATSTK502 (ATmega169),
both supplied with the necessary sockets. For no-fuss debugging, ATMEL offers the
cost-effective ATJTAGICE or a fully-fledged emulator, leaving nothing to be desired in the
way of development tools.
For a better overview of available products, we've included an easy-to-use Selection Guide
with this article.
If you have any further questions, we're standing by to take your call!
Johannes Kornfehl, EXT 49
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