| EFM32 TECHNOLOGY |
Why is EFM32 the world's most energy friendly microcontrollers?
The following sections describes why the brand new 32-bit EFM32 microcontrollers from Energy Micro beat today's "ultra-low power" offerings from the world's major semiconductor vendors. Low energy systems overview
In low power embedded systems the combined power consumption over time in both active and sleep periods that make up the total energy consumption, illustrated by the Energy = Power ∙ Time equation.
Very low active power consumption
EFM32 microcontrollers have been designed to significantly reduce the active mode power consumption. At 32 MHz and 3V the MCU only consumes 180 μA/MHz while running real life code from the internal Flash memory.
![]() Reduced processing time
EFM32 microcontrollers use a 32-bit central processing unit from ARM. The Cortex-M3 architecture was developed for response and power sensitive application and is much more processing efficient than 8- and 16-bit CPUs. Tasks are therefore executed with fewer clock cycles which drastically reduce the active period.
![]() Very fast wake-up time
EFM32 MCUs minimize the inefficient wake-up period from sleep modes to active mode. This period cannot be neglected because low power systems switches between active- and sleep modes throughout operation. EFM32 microcontrollers have reduced the wake-up time to 2 μs, and as little energy as possible is thereby used before the CPU can perform its tasks.
![]() Ultra-low standby current
EFM32 microcontrollers implement ultra low power technology and clever power management for reducing energy spill 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.
![]() Autonomous peripherals operation
In addition to lowest active and sleep mode energy numbers, the EFM32 peripherals can operate in low energy modes without using the CPU. Using highly autonomous setup, an application can reduce power consumption while still performing advanced tasks.
![]() 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. The PRS makes it possible for one peripheral to produce predictable signals which other peripherals can consume and instantly react to.
![]() Well architectured Energy Modes
EFM32 microcontrollers have 5 efficient energy modes which give system designers the flexibility to optimize their application for highest performance combined with the longest battery life.
![]() Ultra energy efficient peripherals
Every EFM32 MCU integrates peripherals designed for extremely energy efficient operation. Some peripherals even surpass stand-alone and highly specific commercial components! The on-chip LCD controller comes with an integrated voltage booster and is capable of flexible control of 4x40 segments using only 900 nA. The highly flexible 12-bit ADC consumes a mere 200 μA performing 1 million samples/s. The Low Energy UART runs full UART communication from a 32 kHz clock in low energy modes and use only 100 nA at 9600 baud/s.
![]() Advanced Energy Monitoring
Supporting the EFM32 Gecko microcontroller family is a development suite which enable designers to instantly write code, prototype, debug, and perform power profiling of their application. The EFM32 Gecko Development Kit and EFM32 Gecko Starter Kit come with the Advanced Energy Monitor (AEM) system which displays run-time, accurate energy and power profiles. With AEM in front of you it is easy to understand and improve the applications energy bottlenecks.
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