Solid State Supplies announces availability of a new family of ARM Cortex-M3 based microcontrollers from Energy Micro. The EFM32 Gecko product range has been expanded to include 100 new low power devices. Memory configurations up to 1MB are available, package choice has been expanded and there are connectivity, display driving and energy saving options. Some devices also have 3 on-chip op-amps to reduce external component count.

New package options include QFN64, QFP100, BGA112, QFP64 and 7 x 7mm small form factor BGA120.

Connectivity now includes a full speed USB 2.0 port on Leopard and Giant devices, with an integral 3.3V regulator to facilitate powering the microcontroller over USB. Communications interfaces include Energy Micro’s Low Energy UART, which consumes just 150nA at 9600 baud.

The LESENSE function from the Tiny Gecko family is added to Leopard Gecko and Giant Gecko families to enable monitoring of up to 16 capacitive, inductive or resistive sensors. Monitoring is independent of the processor core when the MCU is in sub-microamp deep sleep mode.

EFM32 Gecko microcontrollers are capable of active mode current consumption of 160µA/MHz, a deep sleep mode with RTC running at 400nA, a shut-off mode with GPIO wake-up consuming 20nA, and wake-up time from sleep modes down to 2 µs.

A range of development kits is also available from Solid State Supplies.

» Contact Details for Solid State Supplies

Energy Micro, the energy friendly microcontroller and radio company, has announced the appointment of two distributors for South Korea. eSyslogic and Tekro are to support Energy’s complete family of ultra low power ARM® Cortex(TM) based EFM32 Gecko MCUs and forthcoming EFR4 Draco RF transceivers.

Based in Seoul, eSyslogic has operated as a dedicated distributor and value added reseller of electronic components in South Korea since 2008. Providing customers with an in-depth sales and technical design-in service, the company supports a wide range of market sectors including consumer, industrial and multimedia.

Founded in 1996 and also headquartered in Seoul Tekro is a leading distributor and representative agent of electronic components, specialising in supporting global product R&D programmes with a broad portfolio of semiconductor, module and software solutions. BH Choi, Energy Micro’s newly appointed Country Manager for Korea said, “Energy efficiency has become a vital design concern for OEM businesses throughout Korea and Energy Micro’s range of ultra low power microcontrollers and radios offer tremendous advantages. The experience that eSyslogic and Tekro have in energy sensitive product design and technical support makes them great partners for Energy Micro to work with in South Korea.”

Mouser Electronics, Inc. – a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, Inc. and a leading international distributor of semiconductors and electronic components – heralded their global distribution partnership with Energy Micro. Energy Micro is the industry’s recognized source for the world’s most energy-friendly microcontrollers.

Going forward, the new agreement allows Mouser to stock and deliver all Energy Micro products, energyAware™ software, and supporting development kits directly into the hands of design engineers worldwide. Moreover, the agreement confirms Mouser’s long-time stance of providing design engineers instant access to the most advanced technology at the earliest stages of product design and prototype development.

Suiting a range of energy sensitive applications including metering, security, portable medical and lifestyle products, the EFM32 Gecko microcontroller architecture has been designed to dramatically reduce total system energy consumption. Based on the energy efficient 32-bit ARM® Cortex™-M3 core and through the use of unique autonomous peripherals and efficient energy modes, the Gecko microcontrollers are capable of consuming a quarter of the energy of other 8-, 16- and 32-bit microcontrollers. The EFM32 Gecko microcontrollers are supported by a comprehensive development environment comprised of Energy Micro’s own energyAware™ software tools and code libraries, starter kits and development kits. A broad range of third party IDE/compliers, debug adapters and programmers from Keil, IAR Systems and Olimex are also available from Mouser.

“The demands on reducing power consumption and extending battery life are critical to today’s design engineers,” expressed Mike Scott, Mouser Vice President of Semiconductors. “Energy Micro’s line of ultra-low power, energy-efficient ARM Cortex-M3 MCUs provide an excellent solution for battery-operated applications, allowing engineers the ability to provide clear differentiation in their MCU-based designs.”

Geir Forre, Energy Micro President and CEO, comments, “Giving design engineers easy access to the energy friendly EFM32 Gecko microcontrollers is important. With this worldwide agreement, engineers can get ultra-low power MCUs delivered at their door with just a few clicks. With the broad and effective offering of Mouser, this new partnership will help spread the Energy Micro ultra-low power microcontrollers to engineers worldwide.”

» Contact details for Mouser Electronics, Inc.

New Deal Completes Global Service Capability

Following successful pan-European and panAmerican distribution agreements between Energy Micro and Avnet, Inc., Avnet Electronics Marketing Asia, a business region of Avnet, Inc., has signed a contract for distribution of Energy Micro’s ultra low power EFM32 Gecko microcontroller. This means that Avnet now represents Energy Micro in Asia, Europe and the Americas, giving customers a single global source for the world’s lowest power microcontrollers.

Energy efficiency has become a paramount concern for design engineers, particularly in the metering, home & building, alarm & security and medical market. Energy Micro provides the world’s most energy friendly microcontrollers, based on the ARM Cortex-M3 architecture.

“The market is more and more looking for ultra low power, high performance microcontroller solutions – especially for battery operated applications ” said Francis Lam, Avnet Electronics Marketing Asia’s Director of Marketing. “Energy Micro’s award winning line of ultra low power, energy efficient ARM Cortex-M3s, is an excellent solution ensuring we meet the growing energy efficiency needs of our customers.”

“Energy Micro is pleased to extend our Avnet partnership into Asia,” said Bryan Hung, Energy Micro’s VP of Sales for Asia. “Avnet Electronics Marketing Asia is strong in design-in and is a very good fit for us. OEM and CEM customers now operate on a global scale and this latest agreement enables us to support them via Avnet wherever they have design or manufacturing.”

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Electronic components distributor Digi-Key Corporation, recognized by design engineers as having the industry’s broadest selection of electronic components available for immediate shipment, announced today a worldwide agreement with Energy Micro for the distribution of its ultra low power EFM®32 Gecko microcontroller products.

Energy Micro’s energy friendly product range, comprising 32-bit ARM® Cortex™-M3 based microcontrollers, energyAware tools and companion development kits are now available from Digi-Key’s global websites and will appear in future print and on-line catalogs.

Dave Doherty, Digi-Key’s Vice President of Semiconductor Products said, “We’ve already seen, through our North American agreement with Energy Micro, that there is strong market interest in their low power microcontroller solution. Design engineers around the world are under pressure to extend battery life, and we’re delighted to support them with this global distribution agreement.”

Geir Førre, Energy Micro’s President and CEO said, “Digi-Key has already demonstrated to us its ability to reach design engineers with some very real energy management problems to solve. We now look forward to working together with Digi-Key on a worldwide basis to promote the ideals of true energy-friendly design.”

Suiting a range of energy sensitive applications including metering, alarm/security, portable medical and lifestyle products, the EFM32 microcontroller architecture has been designed to dramatically reduce total system energy consumption. The unique advanced energy monitoring (AEM) facility of the EFM32 development kits provides designers with a graphical energy debugging tool enabling early identification and removal of adverse energy drains.

» Contact Details for Digi-Key Corporation

Energy Micro, the energy friendly microcontroller company, today announced the appointment of Omniscient Electronics as an approved distributor in India. The agreement sees Omniscient providing local support for Energy’s complete family of EFM32 Gecko low power MCUs, based on the ARM® Cortex(TM) M3 processor core.

Specialised in semiconductor component distribution, Omniscient integrate technical sales, design services and supply chain solutions for semiconductor manufacturers, OEMs and EMS service providers on a local, regional basis. The company is headquartered in Bangalore and has branches in Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Secunderabad.

Mr.T.V.Deshikan, Director at Omniscient Electronics said, “Our mission statement, ‘Growth through leadership, innovation, quality and commitment,’ aligns perfectly with the Energy Micro ethos. The technology leadership position Energy Micro has taken on ultra low power MCUs, and the speed with which it is extending its product line, makes them an exciting business partner to work with.”

Bryan Hung, VP Sales APAC, Energy Micro said, “There is no doubting the important role India is taking, and will take in the future, in the global electronics industry and its important for us to find a distributor partner with the right mix of geographic reach and technical competence to support the broadest possible range of energy sensitive applications. We look forward to working with Omniscient.”

Energy Micro’s EFM32 Gecko microcontroller family consumes a fraction of the energy required by other 8, 16 and 32-bit microcontroller solutions. The energy friendly EFM32 Gecko microcontroller is in full production, and details of the software and pin-compatible Tiny Gecko and Giant Gecko products have also been announced. The Gecko microcontrollers are supported by the energyAware tool suite and a large community of suppliers providing IDE/compilers, debug systems, development kits and real time operating systems.