Atmel ARM-based processors

Semiconductor companies such as Microchip take the ARM cores, which use a consistent set of instructions and register naming, and add peripheral circuits such as ADCs (analog to digital converters), clock management, and serial communications such as USART, SPI, I2C, CAN, LIN, USB, Ethernet, and LCD, Camera or Touch controllers.

They also provided for DMA between external interfaces and memories increasing data throughput with minimal processor intervention.

In addition to the chips themselves, Microchip offers demo boards, both on its website, and through distribution channels such as Digi-key, Farnell, Ineltek, Arrow, Avnet, Future Electronics, and Mouser.

The SAM4S, SAM4N, SAM3S, SAM3N, SAM7S (64-pin) families have pin-compatible IC footprints, except for USB device, though they are not voltage level compatible.

The devices are all based on the ARM Cortex-M0+ processor and offer different pin, memory, and feature combinations.

The devices are pin- and code-compatible and share peripherals like the Event System and the SERCOM module for reconfigurable multiplexed serial communication ports.

[23] This microcontroller family is used on various hobbyist development boards, such as Arduino Zero (ATSAMD21G18),[24][25] Sparkfun SAMD21 Mini Breakout (ATSAMD21G18),[26] and Seeed Studio XIAO SAMD21 (ATSAMD21G18).

Both are microcontrollers with largely identical peripherals and other hardware technology, flash-based, similar clock speeds, and with dense 16/32 bit RISC instruction sets.

These chips have a top clock speed in the range of 60 MHz, and come with a variety of flash sizes and peripheral sets.

[3][29] Integrated development environments: The amount of documentation for all ARM chips is daunting, especially for newcomers.