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10 factors that make the 32-bit EFM32 the world's most energy friendly microcontroller

The 32-bit EFM32 microcontrollers beat existing low power alternatives. Here we'll highlight the ten factors that make this possible, plus you can find out even more in the EFM32 White Paper here.

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1 Very low active power consumption	2 Reduced processing time	3 Very fast wake-up time	4 Ultra-low standby current	5 Autonomous peripheral operation
6 Peripheral Reflex System	7 Well architected Energy Modes	8 Ultra energy efficient peripherals	9 Advanced Energy Monitoring	10 energyAware Software

In ultra low power applications the power consumption over time in both active and sleep periods combine to make up the total energy consumption (Energy = Power ∙ Time). The EFM32 Gecko MCUs ensure designers can achieve the lowest possible total energy consumption for their applications. Typical applications experience 4x longer operation when running off a single coin cell battery when using an EFM32 Gecko microcontroller.

The ten important technology factors for energy efficiency in a microcontroller

The 32-bit EFM32 MCU from Energy Micro is the world's most energy friendly microcontroller and is specially suited for use in energy sensitive applications, including energy, water, and gas metering, building automation, alarm and security, and portable medical/fitness equipment. Such applications need to operate for as long as possible (even decades) without external power or operator intervention. Battery replacement is often not possible for reasons of access and cost. Benchmarked against today's 'top 10' low power microcontrollers, the EFM32 Microcontroller has been proven capable of consuming a quarter of the energy required by 8-bit, 16-bit or 32-bit alternatives.

This can equate to extending the lifetime of a typical 3V coin cell battery by at least 300% or 7 years. In summary the microcontroller is characterized by very low active power consumption, reduced processing time, very fast wake-up time and ultra-low standby current. To achieve such characteristics, EFM32 has broken with microcontroller design convention in some very distinct ways:

1. Very low active power consumption

EFM32 microcontrollers have been designed to significantly reduce active mode power consumption. At 32 MHz and 3V the MCU only consumes 180 μA/MHz while running real life code from internal Flash memory.

2. Reduced processing time

Energy Micro has built the EFM32 Gecko microcontroller around the 32-bit ARM Cortex-M3 processor core. The Cortex-M3 architecture was developed for response and power sensitive applications and is much more processing efficient than 8- and 16-bit CPUs. Tasks are therefore executed with fewer clock cycles which dramatically reduces the active period.

3. Very fast wake-up time

EFM32 MCUs minimize the inefficient wake-up period between deep sleep modes and active mode. This period simply cannot be neglected since low power systems continually switch between active- and sleep modes. EFM32 microcontrollers have reduced the wake-up time from deep sleep to 2 μs, ensuring as little energy as possible is used before the CPU starts processing its tasks.

4. Ultra-low standby current

EFM32 microcontrollers combine ultra low power technology with clever power management to reduce energy usage in standby modes while still performing basic operations. The Deep Sleep mode includes RAM and CPU retention, Power-on Reset and Brown-out Detection safety features, and a Real Time Counter while only using 900 nA. In Shutoff mode the consumption is only 20 nA.

5. Autonomous peripheral operation

In addition to lowest active and sleep mode energy consumption, the EFM32 peripherals can operate in low energy modes without using the CPU. Using autonomous peripherals, an application can reduce power consumption while still performing very advanced tasks.

6. PRS - Peripheral Reflex System

The Peripheral Reflex System in the EFM32 microcontrollers makes it possible to directly connect one peripheral to another peripheral without involving the CPU. With this system a peripheral can produce signals which other peripherals can consume and instantly react to while the CPU remains asleep.

7. Well architected Energy Modes

EFM32 microcontrollers have 5 efficient energy modes which give system designers the flexibility to optimize their application for highest performance and longest battery life.

8. Energy efficient peripherals

EFM32 microcontrollers are packed with peripherals designed for low energy operation which increase the battery life 4 times compared to other low power 8-, 16-, and 32-bit solutions. Peripherals include:

• LCD controller driving 4x40 segments at only 0.55 uA
• Low Energy UART, full communication at 32 kHz while consuming only 100 nA
• 12-bit ADC performing 1 million samples/sec at only 200 uA
• Analog Comparator using as little as 150 nA
• Hardware accelerator for 128/256-bit AES encryption and decryption in only 54/75 cycles

9. AEM - Advanced Energy Monitoring

The EFM32 microcontroller tools include AEM, an advanced energy-monitoring system that makes it possible to accurately view a prototype's current consumption data in real time, enabling early identification and removal of adverse current drains. The tools also integrate a full J-Link from Segger, for easy debugging and programming.

10. energyAware Software

The energyAware software suite supports the EFM32 Gecko development tools. This includes code examples, CMSIS libraries and a Profiler that reads the kits Advanced Energy Monitoring (AEM) system data and enables simple graphical visualization and optimization of application energy consumption and code.

Find more EFM32 information here: Technology - Products - Tools - Software - Downloads - Support - Buy