EFM32 Zero Gecko MCU Family Delivers Industry-Leading Energy Efficiency and 32-bit Performance at Very Friendly Prices.
Silicon Labs introduced the industry’s most energy-friendly 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs) based on the ARM Cortex-M0+ processor. The EFM32 Zero Gecko MCU family is designed to achieve the lowest system energy consumption for a wide range of battery-powered applications such as mobile health and fitness products, smart watches, activity trackers, smart meters, security systems and wireless sensor nodes, as well as battery-less systems powered by harvested energy. The new Zero Gecko family is the latest addition to the EFM32 Gecko portfolio pioneered by Energy Micro. The family includes 16 cost-effective MCU products designed to enable the lowest possible energy consumption for connected devices enabling the Internet of Things (IoT).
The EFM32 Zero Gecko MCUs feature the industry’s most sophisticated energy management system with five energy modes that enable applications to remain in an energy-optimal state, spending as little time as possible in the energy-hungry active mode. In deep-sleep mode, Zero Gecko MCUs have an industry-leading 0.9 μA standby current consumption. Active-mode power consumption scales down to 110 µA/MHz at 24 MHz. Current consumption is less than 20 nA in shut-off mode.
Like all EFM32 Gecko products, the Zero Gecko MCUs include a best-in-class energy-saving feature called the Peripheral Reflex System (PRS) that significantly enhances system-level energy efficiency. The PRS monitors complex system-level events and allows different MCU peripherals to communicate directly with each other and autonomously without involving the CPU. Leveraging the PRS, an EFM32 MCU can watch for a series of specific events to occur before waking the CPU, thereby keeping the Cortex-M0+ processor core in an energy-saving standby mode as long as possible and reducing overall system power consumption.
The EFM32 Zero Gecko MCUs feature many of the same power-saving precision analog peripherals included in Silicon Labs’ popular Tiny Gecko, Giant Gecko and Wonder Gecko devices. These low-energy peripherals include an analog comparator, a supply voltage comparator, an on-chip temperature sensor and a 12-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with 350 μA current consumption at a 1 MHz sample rate.
The Zero Gecko devices are the only Cortex-M0+ MCUs containing a 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) hardware block. With this built-in hardware AES encryption acceleration support, the Zero Gecko MCUs provide an ideal companion for RF transmitters and transceivers used in connected device applications for the Internet of Things.
To speed time to market and reduce development cost, the EFM32 Zero Gecko family is supported by the complimentary Simplicity Studio software suite, a comprehensive graphical user interface environment for all major computing platforms including Microsoft® Windows®, Linux and Mac/OS X. Third-party tools support includes IAR’s Embedded Workbench, Keil’s MDK-ARM and CrossWorks from Rowley Associates.
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Pricing and Availability
Samples of Silicon Labs’ EFM32 Zero Gecko MCUs are available now in QFN and QFP packages with 4 to 32 kB flash sizes, and production quantities are planned for Q4 2013. Product pricing for the Zero Gecko MCUs in 100,000-unit quantities begins at $0.49 (USD). The easy-to-use, cost-effective EFM32ZG-STK3200 starter kit is available now and priced at $69 (USD MSRP).
