Atmel Extends 8-bit MCU Leadership; Launches Industry’s Highest Performing 8-bit tinyAVRs with 1kB Flash

Today, at Embedded World 2016, Atmel® Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML), a global leader in microcontroller (MCU) and touch technology solutions, announced the world’s highest performing, low power, 8-bit MCUs with 1kB Flash memory. The new ATtiny102/104 MCUs run up to 12MIPS and integrate features previously only available in larger more expensive MCUs, making them ideal for smaller applications including logic replacement and the latest cost-optimized applications in the consumer, industrial and home automation markets.

The majority of today’s 8-bit market growth is coming from applications that previously only required discrete components. With many of these new applications requiring simple intelligent functions including timing, motor control or on/off functionality, 8-bit MCUs are becoming an essential feature for the personal healthcare, small kitchen appliance and consumer markets. The ATtiny102/104 8-bit AVRs provide all the necessary features to help spur the growth in these applications with its small, cost-optimized low-pincount package with just 1kB of Flash memory. Integrated features include self-programming for firmware upgrades; non-volatile data storage; accurate internal oscillator to provide more reliable motor control; high-speed serial communication with USART; operating voltages ranging from 1.8V to 5.5V, 10-bit ADC with internal voltage references; and sleep currents at less than 100nA in power down mode with SRAM retention.

“Atmel has already sold more units of its 8-bit AVR core based MCUs than the 7.4 billion people on Earth,” said Oyvind Strom, Sr. Director of MCUs, Atmel Corporation. “We continue to expand our AVR portfolio with the new ATtiny102/104 8-bit MCUs. These are the first two devices in our new AVR Tiny portfolio that are packed with features optimized for tiny, compact MCU systems such as LED lighting, fan control and other small applications.”

Key Features for Atmel’s 8-bit tinyAVR MCUs

• 1kB Flash / 32bytes SRAM
• 8- and 14-pin packages down to 2mm x 3mm in size
• Up to 12 MIPS at 12MHz
• Self-programmable Flash
• Accurate (±3%) Internal oscillator
• Multiple calibrated internal voltage references (1.1V, 2.2V, 4.3V)
• 10-bytes Unique ID (serial number)
• USART
• 10 bit ADC and analog comparator
• 1.8V to 5.5V voltage range
• -40°C to +105°C  and -40°C to +125°C temperature ranges

Development Kits and Ecosystem

To accelerate the design process, Atmel offers a low-cost Xplained Nano evaluation kit available for only $4.44 USD in the Atmel Store. The new kit includes a board with an ATtiny104, embedded programmer, access to all I/O, one push button and one LED. The ATtiny102/104 are fully supported by Atmel’s development ecosystem, including Atmel Studio 7, the integrated development environment (IDE) for developing and debugging Atmel | SMART Cortex-M and Atmel AVR MCU-based applications. Atmel Studio 7 gives designers a seamless and easy-to-use environment for coding, building, simulating, programming, and debugging applications for Atmel MCUs. With Atmel’s broad portfolio of AVR products and easy-to-use development software, designers can bring their 8-bit MCU to market quickly. Additionally, designers have access to the company’s embedded software, including the Atmel Software Framework and application notes, and the Atmel Gallery ‘app’ store.

Availability

The ATtiny 102/104 engineering samples are available today with mass production samples scheduled for May 2016.