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Atmel Launches RF Chipset with Industry's Highest Integration Level for 5.8 GHz Cordless Phone Applications

(Japan ) (Simple Chinese)

    Heilbronn, Germany, February 26, 2007  

    Atmel® Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML), a global leader in the development and fabrication of advanced semiconductor solutions, announced today the availability of a new RF chipset combining the ATR2820 SiGe transceiver IC and the ATR7040 high-gain power amplifier (PA), providing the industry's highest integration level for cordless telephone applications in the 5.8 GHz frequency band.

    The ATR2820 fully-integrated one-chip 5.8 GHz transceiver ATR2820 has been designed using Atmel's advanced SiGe BICMOS process and combines low power consumption and high frequency. The new device contains a fully-integrated low-IF receiver, VCO, PLL, and a transmit output with 3 dBm output power. It is extremely flexible and can be programmed via a 3-wire serial bus to integrate with any cordless telephone baseband available on the market as well as standard microcontrollers for gaming and other consumer applications. The ATR2820's high data-rate capability (1.152 Mbit/s) allows the support of up to six handsets, using the standard DECT protocol via the same base station, or more than six game pads with a game controller.

     The ATR7040 power amplifier boosts the power to the optimum of 25 dBm with a supply voltage of 3.6V. Taking into consideration the lack of an antenna filter and the transmit/receive switch of 2 dB, the coverage distance is about 1600 ft (typically, in free space). The output power can be increased by applying a higher supply voltage.

     The new chipset provides excellent technical performance at the lowest manufacturing cost, two key issues in the consumer electronics market. The extremely low current consumption (the average RF module consumes 26.5 mA with one voice link active) allows cordless phone manufacturers to save cost by using smaller capacity batteries. Also, the bill of materials, and thus system costs, are low because very few external components are needed to complete a cordless phone design. The new RF chipset is very production friendly - no software or mechanical tuning is needed. Simple ISM applications using the ATR2820 as a stand-alone device can be realized on a small 2-layer printed circuit board.

Pricing and Availability

    Samples of the ATR2820 in QFN32 (5 x 5 mm) and the ATR7040 PA in QFN16 (3 x 3 mm) packages are available now with pricing starting at US $5.70 for 10k piece quantities.

Footnote

       IF = Intermediate Frequency
       PA = Power Amplifier
       PLL = Phase-Locked Loop
       SiGe = Silicon Germanium Technology
       VCO = Voltage-Controlled Oscillator

Atmel Integrates AVR 8-bit Microcontroller and LIN System Basis Chip into Single Small Package  (Japan ) (Simple Chinese)

    Heilbronn, Germany, February 13, 2007  

Highest Integration Level

    Atmel® Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML), a global leader in the development and fabrication of advanced semiconductor solutions, announced today the availability of the ATA6602 and ATA6603 multichip modules, extending Atmel's current broad IC family for LIN applications. These new devices are designed for automotive actuator applications typically found in comfort electronics (e.g., window lifter, mirror or seat adjuster) as well as in powertrain applications. Due to their very small size, the ATA6602 and ATA6603 are also ideal for sensor node applications such as control panels, air quality, rain/sun sensors and many more.

     Using a multichip-module approach, these two ICs combine a microcontroller (8-bit AVR®) and a LIN system basis chip (LIN SBC) in a single package (SiP, system-in-package) without internal connections. As a result, the ATA6602/ATA6603 ICs offer the highest integration level including microcontroller, voltage regulator, LIN transceiver and watchdog in one package covering the complete basic functionality of a LIN node. These products achieve minimum space requirements, shorter time-to-market due to the simpler system design, and lower sourcing, logistics, and assembly cost.

     The ATA6602 integrates the automotive-qualified ATmega88 AVR Flash MCU with 8 KB of Flash memory, whereas the ATA6603 incorporates the automotive-qualified ATmega168 with a Flash memory of 16 KB.

     The LIN SBCs within the new ATA6602 and ATA6603 modules incorporate the LIN transceiver, an advanced voltage regulator, and a watchdog timer. They are manufactured using Atmel's own high-voltage BCDMOS process for operation in harsh environments. Thanks to its silent mode, the LIN SBC provides very low power consumption (40 microamps with activated voltage regulator). In addition, the LIN SBC provides high immunity against ESD and EMC, various protection functions, and a unique, broad input/output voltage range (-40 to 60V) for the LIN bus pin which is ideal for use in truck applications.

     Since the ATA6602 and ATA6603 incorporate AVR microcontrollers with all pins bonded out, Atmel's standard AVR tools can be used during the development phase. This includes, for example, the AVR Studio® which is the new professional integrated development environment (IDE) for writing and debugging AVR applications. AVR Studio includes an assembler, as well as a simulator, and supports the integration of the freeware GCC compiler. It can be downloaded for free at http://www.atmel.com/avr. For on-chip debugging, the AVR JTAGICE mkII can be used. It is a powerful development and debug tool supporting the debugWIRE Interface, which enables the designers to debug the ATA6602 and ATA6603 on-chip, using only a single wire for the debug interface. A LIN protocol handler is also available. In addition, a LIN software library for GCC and IAR C compiler are available for free.

Pricing and Availability

     Samples of the new ATA6602/ATA6603 in QFN48 (7 x 7 mm) packages are available now. Pricing starts at US$1.87 (ATA6602) for 10k pieces and US$1.99 (ATA6603) for 10k pieces.

    Footnote

       BCDMOS = Mixed-signal technology with Bipolar, CMOS and DMOS components
       EEPROM = Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory
       EMC = Electro Magnetic Compatibility
       ESD = Electro Static Discharge
       GCC = GNU C Compiler
       LIN = Local Interconnect Network
       RC = Resistor Capacitor (circuit)
       RISC = Reduced Instruction Set Computer
       SBC = System Basis Chi

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