Energy Micro is to extend the reach of its ultra low power EFM32 Gecko microcontroller family with the introduction of an ARM® Cortex-M0™ based product line and has improved the low power performance of its forthcoming Cortex-M3™ based Tiny Gecko devices. The new introductions will boost the company’s Energy Friendly Microcontroller portfolio to more than 100 products.

To be named "Zero Gecko", the M0 based microcontroller line of 20 new products will provide Energy Micro’s lowest cost energy friendly microcontroller solution. Pin and software compatible with the companion M3 based products, Zero will also achieve the same four times improvement in energy consumption when compared to alternative M0 based microcontrollers.

It will target battery-backed applications in sectors such as energy metering, building automation, security and portable medical equipment.