On this page you can find a quick overview of Atmel's microcontroller families: AVR® 8-Bit RISC, AVR32 32-bit MCU, AT91CAP Customizable Microcontrollers, AT91SAM 32-bit ARM-based Microcontrollers, DIOPSIS® (ARM + DSP), 8051 Architecture, FPSLIC™ (AVR with FPGA) and Atmel MCU Wireless Solutions.

AVR 8-Bit RISC

Atmel's low power, high performance AVR microcontrollers handle demanding 8- and 16-bit applications. With a single cycle instruction RISC CPU, innovative picoPower® technology, and a rich feature set, the AVR architecture ensures fast code execution combined with the lowest possible power consumption.

Whether you program in C or assembly, the tuned AVR instructions decrease program size and development time. The well-defined I/O structure limits the need for external components and reduce development cost. A variety of internal oscillators, timers, UARTs, SPIs, Pulse Width Modulation, pull-up resistors, ADCs, Analog Comparators and Watch-Dog Timers are some of the features available for creative engineers.

Download the free AVR Studio® and start writing and debugging code instantly! Learn only one tool chain with AVR Studio supporting all AVR devices and development tools, including Starter Kits, Evaluation Kits and Reference Designs. A comprehensive collection of application notes also kick-start troublesome tasks.

Since the introduction of the classic AT90S1200 device with on-chip in-system programmable Flash and EEPROM in 1997, today's large AVR microcontroller portfolio consists of devices sharing a single CPU architecture. This makes it easy to find THE AVR microcontroller for your application.

AVR32 32-bit MCU

Atmel has created the first processor architected specifically for 21st century applications that require both performance and low power consumption. The AVR32 32-bit RISC processor core is designed to do more processing per clock cycle so the same throughput can be achieved at a lower clock frequency with substantially less power consumption.

The Harvard architecture and multiple high-speed system buses guarantee exceptional processing performance whilst various sleeping modes and Dynamic Frequency Scaling ensures low power consumption. Both UC3 and AP7 subfamilies are supported by Atmel's large range of development tools, and the free AVR32 Studio makes it easy to start developing C/C++ code.

UC3 32-bit Flash Microcontrollers feature DSP instructions and achieve up to 83 DMIPS @ 66 MHz and the best-in-class energy efficiency with 1.3 mW/MHz.

AP7 32-bit Application Processors feature DSP and SIMD instruction set. They deliver up to 210 DMIPS @ 150 MHz and provide SoC solution with full Linux support.

AT91CAP Customizable Microcontrollers

Atmel's CAP is a microcontroller-based system-on-chip platform with fast local memory, a wide range of industry-standard peripherals and interfaces, and a Metal Programmable (MP) Block that allows the designer to add custom logic. By combining the performance, density and low power consumption of the fixed portion of the device with the flexibility of the MP Block, CAP enables application-specific products to be developed in a fraction of the time and at a fraction of the cost of standard cell ASICs, but at a unit price close to that of standard cell devices.

The advantages of this design approach are six-fold:

1. Risk is reduced since the ARM core and peripherals (over 70% of the design) are fully verified in silicon, the designer does not have to worry about any of the ARM design aspects – that work is already done.
2. Design time is reduced since the SoC portion of the design is complete and the designer only has to focus on the portion of logic that would otherwise be in an FPGA. This logic is captured in the MP Block of the CAP device.
3. The CAP cycle time for place & route and prototype fabrication is extremely short. Place & route is limited to the metal layers of the MP block and the ROM personalization layer; everything else is fixed. Fabrication time for prototypes is reduced since wafers are staged at the metal layers awaiting the Metal Programmable logic and ROM code from the designer. This cuts the fab cycle time in half.
4. Design cost savings: CAP NRE cost is significantly lower than that for standard cell ASICs. The total design cost for an ARM-based SoC using CAP technology is a fraction of that for a standard-cell equivalent, thanks to re-use of hardware/software functional blocks, reduced place & route effort and the smaller number of masks.
5. Low unit cost: In volume, CAP costs only slightly more than an equivalent standard cell ASIC, and much less than an MCU + FPGA combination for the same functionality.
6. The CAP Emulation Board, industry-standard software development tools, device drivers, operating systems and extensive re-usable software modules facilitate software development, and enable hardware and software development to proceed in parallel.

AT91SAM 32-bit ARM-based Microcontrollers