Atmel’s SAM7SE MCUs Support 1 GB plus of SDRAM, NAND Flash, and CompactFlash

Oct 23, 2006. Atmel added new ARM7-based microcontrollers. The SAM7SE are the first ARM7-based MCUs to include an external bus interface (EBI) that provides access to massive amounts (1 gigabyte+) of external NAND Flash, SDRAM, CompactFlash(R), SRAM and ROM storage. The ability to efficiently store and retrieve over a gigabyte of data makes SAM7SE microcontrollers ideal for data logging applications.
 

The AT91SAM7SE512 is available now in 128 pin Green QFP or BGA packages and priced at $8.43 and $9.38, respectively, in quantities of 10,000. The AT91SAM7SE256 and AT91SAM7SE32 will be available in early 2007.

Data logging applications have usually been implemented with costly, power-hungry ARM9(TM)-based microcontrollers because they were the only MCUs available that supported SDRAM and NAND Flash memories. Conventional ARM7 MCUs require intensive bit manipulation through the general purpose I/O in these applications which significantly reduces the available processing power. With the advent of Atmel’s SAM7E family, designers can now use these smaller-footprint, ARM7-based MCUs to implement battery-powered, portable versions of these applications.
 

The EBI on Atmel’s AT91SAM7SE MCUs supports 32-bit NAND Flash, SDRAM and CompactFlash memories in TrueIDE mode. It includes a NAND Flash controller with a complementary error-correcting code controller (ECC) that compensates for bits that are lost by NAND Flash memory over time. A built-in memory controller offers up to eight configurable chip selects and supports a wide range of 16- and 32-bit static devices including SRAM, ROM, Flash, memory-mapped LCD and FPGA.

To secure the firmware, Atmel’s SAM7E microcontrollers have several locking features:

• The MCU cannot boot from external memory.
• A Flash security bit disables the Fast Flash Programming Interface (FFPI) and JTAG access to the on-chip Flash memory.
• A memory protection unit (MPU) can be configured to enforce code execution from on-chip Flash, thereby preventing execution from an outside source.

Dual-bank Flash memory on the 512 KByte SAM7SE allows true read- while-write capability so systems can be reprogrammed while continuing to operate. The dual-bank memory also protects the system from power failures or other errors that can cause an unrecoverable system failure.

Like Atmel’s other SAM7 MCUs, the SAM7SE-series has an11-channel peripheral DMA controller (PDC) that increases on-chip bandwidth to 10 Mbps while maintaining 96% of the CPU’s cycles for application processing. The PDC can store the streaming content directly in the external NAND Flash or SDRAM without CPU intervention.

Peripherals support real-time deterministic applications. The SAM7SE-series includes the same supervisory features found on 8-bit MCUs including a brown-out detector, power-on- reset, real-time clock, crystal oscillator, watchdog timer and three 16-bit timers. Communication interfaces include three USARTs, USB, TWI, I2S (SSC) and SPI. The device also has four pulse width modulators (PWM), an 8-channel, 10-bit analog-to-digital controller (ADC) and 88 I/O pins.

About AT91SAM7SE512

The AT91SAM7SE512 is a Flash microcontroller with external memory bus based on the 32-bit ARM7TDMI RISC processor. It features 512K bytes of embedded high-speed Flash with sector lock capabilities and a security bit, and 32K bytes of SRAM. The integrated proprietary SAM-BA Boot Assistant enables in-system programming of the embedded Flash. The external bus interface supports SDRAM and static memories including CompactFlash and ECC-enabled NAND Flash.

Its extensive peripheral set includes a USB 2.0 Full Speed Device Port, USARTs, SPI, SSC, TWI and an 8-channel 10-bit ADC. Its Peripheral DMA Controller channels eliminate processor bottlenecks during peripheral-to-memory transfers. Its System Controller manages interrupts, clocks, power, time, debug and reset, significantly reducing the external chip count and minimizing power consumption.

In industrial temperature, worse case conditions the maximum clock frequency is 48MHz. Typical core supply is 1.8V, I/Os are supplied at 1.8V or 3.3V and are 5V tolerant. An integrated Voltage Regulator permits single supply at 3.3V. The AT91SAM7SE512 is supplied in a 128-lead LQFP Green Package, or a 144-ball LFBGA Grren Package. It is supported by an Evaluation Board and extensive application development tools.

The AT91SAM7SE512 is a general-purpose microcontroller, particularly suited to applications requiring high performance, USB connectivity and extended on- and off-chip memory.

Here you can download AT91SAM7SE Series Advance Information Summary (47 pages)

Development Tools

Atmel also offer development kit for their AT91SAM7SE devices. AT91SAM7SE-EK Evaluation Kit enables the evaluation of and code development for applications running on an AT91SAM7SE device.
 

You can also found KEIL software examples for the AT91SAM7SE512 on atmel website

CMX-MicroNet:
_http://www.cmx.com/atmel/index.htm

An evaluation of CMX-MicroNet for the Atmel AT91SAM7X-EK board and Atmel AT91SAM7SE-EK board and IAR ARM tools is available for download. The evaluation version of CMX-MicroNet has some limitations which the full version of CMX-MicroNet does not have…

Main source: Atmel