Created by Alex Aldag, last modified on Jul 28, 2014
This page and it’s related pages are about the Atmel SAM D series of microcontrollers. Each child page is dedicated to one of the families and a development board if one is available.
Features and Benefits
Using an ARM Cortex-M0+ core, the SAM D is one of the newest flash-based microcontrollers that Atmel has released. There are four different device families, the D10, the D11, the D20, and the D21. Coupled with their wide peripheral set and low power process, this makes a good addition to their product line.
The table below shows the various combinations of available Flash, SRAM, and a number of the more common peripherals for each device family.
The ARM Cortex-M0+ has been coupled with the Atmel event system, a single-cycle 32x32 multiplier, a 2-stage pipeline, and single-cycle I/O access. All of these parts run up to a maximum of 48MHz. The Atmel SERCOM (Serial Communications Interface) which is a very flexible serial interface able to be configured as I2C, SPI, or USART. Each interface can be assigned to different I/O pins through multiplexing, increasing the flexibility of the parts. There are multiple instances of 16-bit timer/counters, each of which can be programmed to perform frequency and waveform generation. There are two sleep modes, idle and standby, that are selectable via software. All the parts in this family also include the Peripheral Touch Controller (PTC) which is built in hardware support for capacitive touch. This is a first for Atmel, incorporating hardware support for both self- and mutual-capacitance sensing as a peripheral.
SAM D20 Family
The SAMD20 family of parts were the first set of parts from Atmel using the Cortex-M0+ core. Unlike the rest of the SAM D parts, these don’t contain DMA. Memory ranges from 16KB to 256KB of flash and 2KB to 32KB of SRAM. The D20 family consists of the D20E, the D20G and the D20J that are available in 32-, 48-, and 64-pins respectively. They’re available in QFP and QFN packages. I’ve broken down the main differences between them below.
| D20E | D20G | D20J | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Pins | 32 | 48 | 64 |
| Number of SERCOM | 4 | 6 | 6 |
| Channels of ADC | 10 | 14 | 20 |
| Number of Timer/Counters | 6 | 6 | 8 |
SAM D21 Family
The SAMD21 family of parts were the next set available using the M0+ core. These are upwards compatible from the D20s with added features. As you can see by the chart showing all the part families, the D21 has DMA, I2S, and Full Speed USB in both Device and Host mode. Another new peripheral is the three channels of Timer/Counters for Control applications. These can go up to 96MHz and 24-bit resolution. Like the D20, the D21 is available in 32-, 48-, and 64-pin QFP and QFN packages. Memory ranges from 16KB to 256KB of Flash and 2KB to 32KB of SRAM.
| D21E | D21G | D21J | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Pins | 32 | 48 | 64 |
| Number of SERCOM | 4 | 6 | 6 |
| Channels of ADC | 10 | 14 | 20 |
| Number of Timer/Counters | 3 | 3 | 5 |
SAM D11 Family
The SAMD11 family, along with the SAMD10, were the latest of the SAM D series of parts to become available. While these come in smaller packages, the peripheral modules are identical to what’s in the SAMD20 and D21 families. While the D21 has FS USB Device and Host, the D11 is only FS USB. Also, since it has a smaller pin count, the D11 only requires one power pair making more I/O pins available. These parts also have the TCC but only one channel. Currently the available memory is 8KB and 16KB of Flash and 4KB of SRAM. The SAMD11 is available in 20- and 14-pin SOIC and 24-pin QFN packages.
| D11D QFN | D11D SOIC | D11C SOIC | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Pins | 24 | 20 | 14 |
| Number of SERCOM | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Channels of ADC | 10 | 8 | 5 |
| Number of Timer/Counters | 2 | 2 | 2 |
SAM D10 Family
The last family of SAM D series of parts is pin and code compatible with the D11 family, minus the USB. Like the D11, it only requires one power pair opening up the GPIO pins. Just like the D11, the current memory available is 8KB and 16KB of Flash and 4KB of SRAM. It is also available in 20- and 14-pin SOIC and 24-pin QFN packages.
| D10D QFN | D10D SOIC | D10C SOIC | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Pins | 24 | 20 | 14 |
| Number of SERCOM | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Channels of ADC | 10 | 8 | 5 |
| Number of Timer/Counters | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Authors Note
This page was started and is maintained by the Digi-Key Applications Engineering group. It is one of the many ways that we provide support for engineers, hobbyists, entrepreneurs, and other technical minded people. We continue to try to expand and update the content in these pages but we need to know when our work has been useful in any way. In this way we can justify our efforts in working on the eewiki. Please post any comments or questions. As time goes on I will be adding more content on the Atmel SAM D family boards and chips.
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