Energy Micro adds 45 EFM32GG MCU with up to 1M Flash, USB OTG & Host
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Energy Micro has released details on new EFM32 microcontrollers, with the EFM32 Tiny Gecko being followed by the EFM32 Giant Gecko. For energy sensitive applications with high memory requirements, the 32-bit Giant Gecko (GG) will provide Flash configurations up to 1024KB with the added option of embedded USB connectivity.
With the addition of 45 EFM32GG microcontrollers, customers can now choose from 64, 128, 256, 512 and 1024 KB Flash memory blocks and a RAM of 32KB or 128KB. The microcontrollers’ pin and software compatibility with the existing Gecko product family means designers can develop products using the existing Gecko microcontroller and migrate to Giant Gecko when the higher memory parts enter production. Package options will include QFN64, QFP100 and BGA112.
The Giant Gecko’s embedded USB connectivity option will be USB2.0 compliant at full speed (12Mbit/s), integrating 2KB endpoint buffers and handling up to 10 endpoints. It will provide support for USB host and on-the-go configurations as well as bootloader over USB. Additional extended communication options offered by Giant Gecko will include dual I2C and up to 5 USART/UART serial interfaces.
Giant Gecko will feature the same selection of energy-saving peripherals as the companion Gecko and Tiny Gecko products. These include: an 8-channel, 12-bit ADC using 200µA at full resolution and 1Msamples/sec conversion rate, a 4x40 segment LCD controller using 550nA and a special Low Energy UART consuming just 100nA at 9600baud. In addition, for wireless encryption/decryption duties, an 128/256-bit AES accelerator block is also provided.
EFM32 energyAware Software
Energy Micro has introduced a free software tool designed to remove the traditionally time-consuming problem of debugging I/O pin conflicts. Supporting the complete EFM32 Gecko low power MCU family, energyAware Designer ensures correct pin configuration and automatically generates set-up code and documentation.
On creating a new project, designers select a target MCU and are presented with a default device configuration. Peripherals are enabled and displayed in green in the pinout diagram. Pin-conflicts are highlighted in red and can be resolved by choosing an alternative peripheral location. The energyAware Designer tool can then be used to generate the corresponding C-code files.