SAM4L Datasheet, PDF (33/1185 Pages) ATMEL Corporation – ATSAM ARM-based Flash MCU

ATSAM4L4/L2
4.4 Cortex-M4 processor features and benefits summary
• tight integration of system peripherals reduces area and development costs
• Thumb instruction set combines high code density with 32-bit performance
• code-patch ability for ROM system updates
• power control optimization of system components
• integrated sleep modes for low power consumption
• fast code execution permits slower processor clock or increases sleep mode time
• hardware division and fast digital-signal-processing orientated multiply accumulate
• saturating arithmetic for signal processing
• deterministic, high-performance interrupt handling for time-critical applications
• memory protection unit (MPU) for safety-critical applications
• extensive debug and trace capabilities:
– Serial Wire Debug and Serial Wire Trace reduce the number of pins required for debugging,
tracing, and code profiling.
4.5 Cortex-M4 core peripherals
These are:
Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller
The NVIC is an embedded interrupt controller that supports low latency interrupt processing.
System control block
The System control block (SCB) is the programmers model interface to the processor. It pro-
vides system implementation information and system control, including configuration, control,
and reporting of system exceptions.
System timer
The system timer, SysTick, is a 24-bit count-down timer. Use this as a Real Time Operating Sys-
tem (RTOS) tick timer or as a simple counter.
Memory protection unit
The Memory protection unit (MPU) improves system reliability by defining the memory attributes
for different memory regions. It provides up to eight different regions, and an optional predefined
background region.
The complete Cortex-M4 User Guide can be found on the ARM web site:
http://infocenter.arm.com/help/topic/com.arm.doc.dui0553a/DUI0553A_cortex_m4_dgug.pdf
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