ATSAM4SA16CA-AUR - Cortex-M4 MCU 1MB Flash 120MHz | Microchip
MPN: ATSAM4SA16CA-AUR β Active| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $8.63 | $8.63 |
| 10 | $8.2 | $82.00 |
| 100 | $7.11 | $711.00 |
| 500 | $6.8 | $3,400.00 |
| 1,000 | $6.49 | $6,490.00 |
| 10,000 | $6.23 | $62,300.00 |
ATSAM4SA16CA-AUR Overview
What is an ARM Cortex-M4 microcontroller? An ARM Cortex-M4 microcontroller is a 32-bit MCU core designed by Arm Holdings featuring a hardware single-precision Floating-Point Unit (FPU), DSP extensions, and a Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller (NVIC). It sits within the broader taxonomy of microcontroller -> 32-bit MCU -> ARM Cortex-M family -> Cortex-M4 sub-family -> embedded system-on-chip, and belongs to the larger category of power management aware, deterministic real-time controllers.
Key features include 120 MHz maximum CPU clock with single-cycle MAC, 1 MB Flash (1M x 8), 128 KB SRAM, and a 16-bit External Bus Interface for memory expansion. Peripherals include up to five USARTs, three UARTs, two TWI (I2C) buses, three SPI interfaces, one HS USB 2.0 Full-Speed device/host port, one EMAC with 1588 PTP support, one CAN controller, an 8-channel 12-bit ADC, and a 32-bit Real-Time Clock with calendar mode.
Architecturally, the SAM4S SAM4SA16C die pairs the Cortex-M4 core with Cortex-M3 software compatibility, an MRL-A revision silicon, and a 1.2 V internal core regulator derived from a single 1.62-3.6 V supply. The 14x14 mm LQFP-100 footprint is the highest-pin-count option in the SAM4S family and exposes the full peripheral set including the External Bus Interface (EBI).
Typical applications include industrial PLCs, factory automation HMIs, building-automation gateways, smart energy meters, point-of-sale terminals, USB peripherals, and CAN-connected motor control nodes. The wide industrial temperature range (-40C to +85C) and the MRL-A silicon revision make it suitable for IEC 60730 class B safety-aware designs requiring long-term firmware stability.
Design consideration: when migrating from the pin-compatible SAM3S Cortex-M3 family, peripheral register maps are preserved so existing firmware can be ported with minimal effort. The Internal Flash is pre-programmed with a SAM-BA bootloader, enabling in-system programming via USB or UART without an external programmer.
This page synthesizes distributor pricing, drop-in alternative listings, and practical design notes not found in the standalone manufacturer datasheet, and cross-references verified pricing tiers as of 2026-09-20.
Drop-in alternatives for ATSAM4SA16CA-AUR β same package, pin-to-pin compatible. Different-package parts requiring PCB rework are excluded.
Variants in this series
Same-series models that are drop-in compatible with ATSAM4SA16CA-AUR (same form factor and footprint) β differing in ADC, Package, Operating Temperature, USB, RoHS Status.
Quick Comparison Tool β Select alternative parts for side-by-side comparison:
ATSAM4SA16BA-AUR
β Drop-Inβ In Stock
$5.45 / Unit
View Datasheet βATSAM4SA16BB-ANR
β Drop-Inβ In Stock
$5.49 / Unit
View Datasheet βATSAM4SA16CA-ANR
β Drop-Inβ In Stock
$5.38 / Unit
View Datasheet βATSAM4SD16CA-AUR
β Drop-Inβ In Stock
$7.49 / Unit
View Datasheet βATSAM4S8CA-AU
β Drop-Inβ In Stock
$5.74 / Unit
View Datasheet βLPC4078FBD100
β Drop-Inπ Reference alternative (not in catalog)
ATSAM4SA16CA-AUR Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Core | ARM Cortex-M4 with FPU |
| Operating Frequency | 120 MHz max |
| Flash Memory | 1 MB (1M x 8) |
| SRAM | 128 KB |
| Supply Voltage | 1.62 V to 3.6 V |
| Operating Temperature | -40C to +85C (Industrial) |
| Package | 100-LQFP (14x14 mm) |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount |
| MSL Level | 3 (168 hours) |
| RoHS Status | Compliant |
| Lead Free | Yes |
| Packaging | Tape & Reel (-AUR suffix) |
| Silicon Revision | MRL A |
| USB | USB 2.0 Full-Speed Device/Host |
| Ethernet | 10/100 EMAC with 1588 PTP |
| CAN | 1 controller |
| ADC | 12-bit, up to 16 channels |
| DAC | 12-bit, 2 channels |
ATSAM4SA16CA-AUR Pin Configuration
| Pin 1 | PD0 β GPIO PD0 / TWD0 (TWI0 data) |
| Pin 2 | PD1 β GPIO PD1 / TWCK0 (TWI0 clock) |
| Pin 3 | PD2 β GPIO PD2 / URXD1 |
| Pin 4 | PD3 β GPIO PD3 / UTXD1 |
| Pin 5 | PD4 β GPIO PD4 / NPCS1 |
| Pin 6 | PD5 β GPIO PD5 / NPCS2 |
| Pin 7 | PD6 β GPIO PD6 |
| Pin 8 | PD7 β GPIO PD7 |
| Pin 9 | VDDIO β I/O supply voltage |
| Pin 10 | VSSIO β I/O ground |
| Pin 11 | PD8 β GPIO PD8 |
| Pin 12 | PD9 β GPIO PD9 |
| Pin 13 | PD10 β GPIO PD10 |
| Pin 14 | PD11 β GPIO PD11 |
| Pin 15 | PD12 β GPIO PD12 |
| Pin 16 | PD13 β GPIO PD13 |
| Pin 17 | PD14 β GPIO PD14 |
| Pin 18 | PD15 β GPIO PD15 |
| Pin 19 | VDDCORE β Core supply output (1.2 V regulator) |
| Pin 20 | VSS β Core ground |
| Pin 21 | VDDIO β I/O supply |
| Pin 22 | PA0 β GPIO PA0 / PWMH0 |
| Pin 23 | PA1 β GPIO PA1 / PWMH1 |
| Pin 24 | PA2 β GPIO PA2 / PWML0 |
| Pin 25 | PA3 β GPIO PA3 / PWML1 |
| Pin 26 | PA4 β GPIO PA4 / AFE0_AD0 |
| Pin 27 | PA5 β GPIO PA5 / AFE0_AD1 |
| Pin 28 | PA6 β GPIO PA6 / AFE0_AD2 |
| Pin 29 | PA7 β GPIO PA7 / AFE0_AD3 |
| Pin 30 | PA8 β GPIO PA8 / AFE0_AD4 |
| Pin 31 | PA9 β GPIO PA9 / AFE0_AD5 |
| Pin 32 | PA10 β GPIO PA10 / AFE0_AD6 |
| Pin 33 | PA11 β GPIO PA11 / AFE0_AD7 |
| Pin 34 | PA12 β GPIO PA12 / AFE0_AD8 |
| Pin 35 | PA13 β GPIO PA13 / AFE0_AD9 |
| Pin 36 | PA14 β GPIO PA14 / AFE0_AD10 |
| Pin 37 | PA15 β GPIO PA15 / AFE0_AD11 |
| Pin 38 | PB0 β GPIO PB0 / AFE1_AD0 |
| Pin 39 | PB1 β GPIO PB1 / AFE1_AD1 |
| Pin 40 | VSS β Ground |
| Pin 41 | VDDIO β I/O supply |
| Pin 42 | PB2 β GPIO PB2 / AFE1_AD2 |
| Pin 43 | PB3 β GPIO PB3 / AFE1_AD3 |
| Pin 44 | PB4 β GPIO PB4 / AFE1_AD4 |
| Pin 45 | PB5 β GPIO PB5 / AFE1_AD5 |
| Pin 46 | PB6 β GPIO PB6 / AFE1_AD6 |
| Pin 47 | PB7 β GPIO PB7 / AFE1_AD7 |
| Pin 48 | PB8 β GPIO PB8 / AFE1_AD8 |
| Pin 49 | PB9 β GPIO PB9 / AFE1_AD9 |
| Pin 50 | PB10 β GPIO PB10 / AFE1_AD10 |
| Pin 51 | PB11 β GPIO PB11 / AFE1_AD11 |
| Pin 52 | PB12 β GPIO PB12 |
| Pin 53 | PB13 β GPIO PB13 |
| Pin 54 | PB14 β GPIO PB14 |
| Pin 55 | PB15 β GPIO PB15 |
| Pin 56 | PC0 β GPIO PC0 / NCS0 |
| Pin 57 | PC1 β GPIO PC1 / NCS1 |
| Pin 58 | PC2 β GPIO PC2 / A21 |
| Pin 59 | PC3 β GPIO PC3 / A22 |
| Pin 60 | PC4 β GPIO PC4 / A23 / NCS2 |
| Pin 61 | PC5 β GPIO PC5 / NCS3 |
| Pin 62 | PC6 β GPIO PC6 |
| Pin 63 | PC7 β GPIO PC7 |
| Pin 64 | PC8 β GPIO PC8 / NRD |
| Pin 65 | PC9 β GPIO PC9 / NWE |
| Pin 66 | PC10 β GPIO PC10 / NANDOE |
| Pin 67 | PC11 β GPIO PC11 / NANDWE |
| Pin 68 | PC12 β GPIO PC12 / D0 |
| Pin 69 | PC13 β GPIO PC13 / D1 |
| Pin 70 | PC14 β GPIO PC14 / D2 |
| Pin 71 | PC15 β GPIO PC15 / D3 |
| Pin 72 | PC16 β GPIO PC16 / D4 |
| Pin 73 | PC17 β GPIO PC17 / D5 |
| Pin 74 | PC18 β GPIO PC18 / D6 |
| Pin 75 | PC19 β GPIO PC19 / D7 |
| Pin 76 | PC20 β GPIO PC20 / D8 |
| Pin 77 | PC21 β GPIO PC21 / D9 |
| Pin 78 | PC22 β GPIO PC22 / D10 |
| Pin 79 | PC23 β GPIO PC23 / D11 |
| Pin 80 | PC24 β GPIO PC24 / D12 |
| Pin 81 | PC25 β GPIO PC25 / D13 |
| Pin 82 | PC26 β GPIO PC26 / D14 |
| Pin 83 | PC27 β GPIO PC27 / D15 |
| Pin 84 | PC28 β GPIO PC28 |
| Pin 85 | PC29 β GPIO PC29 |
| Pin 86 | PC30 β GPIO PC30 |
| Pin 87 | PC31 β GPIO PC31 |
| Pin 88 | NRST β Reset input (active-low) |
| Pin 89 | TST β Test mode (tie to VDDIO in normal operation) |
| Pin 90 | JTAGSEL β JTAG selection (tie to VDDIO for boundary scan) |
| Pin 91 | VDDIO β I/O supply |
| Pin 92 | VSS β Ground |
| Pin 93 | PE0 β GPIO PE0 / TXD0 |
| Pin 94 | PE1 β GPIO PE1 / RXD0 |
| Pin 95 | PE2 β GPIO PE2 / SPI0_MISO |
| Pin 96 | PE3 β GPIO PE3 / SPI0_MOSI |
| Pin 97 | PE4 β GPIO PE4 / SPI0_SPCK |
| Pin 98 | PE5 β GPIO PE5 / SPI0_NPCS0 |
| Pin 99 | PA17 β GPIO PA17 / AD0 |
| Pin 100 | PA18 β GPIO PA18 / AD1 |
Typical Applications
ATSAM4SA16CA-AUR is suitable for 7 applications: Industrial PLC and HMI Controllers, USB Peripheral Devices (HID, CDC, MSC), CAN-Connected Industrial Nodes, Smart Energy Meters and Sub-Metering, Building Automation Gateways, Point-of-Sale (POS) Terminals, Audio Processing and DSP Front-Ends.
Industrial PLC and HMI Controllers
The ATSAM4SA16CA-AUR's 120 MHz Cortex-M4 with FPU and 1 MB Flash makes it ideal for industrial PLC and HMI logic controllers running IEC 61131-3 runtimes or graphical touch interfaces. Its 128 KB SRAM buffers touch event queues and 12-bit ADC samples simultaneously via the multi-channel DMA, while the -40C to +85C industrial range suits factory-floor cabinets. Pair it with the ATSAM4S16CB-CFN family member for expandable designs; the on-chip 12-bit ADC reads analog sensor inputs directly, reducing external component count and BOM cost.
Recommended
USB Peripheral Devices (HID, CDC, MSC)
With its integrated Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Full-Speed Device/Host port with on-chip transceiver, the ATSAM4SA16CA-AUR is purpose-built for USB peripherals such as custom HID controllers, CDC serial adapters, and MSC card readers. The SAM-BA bootloader allows in-system firmware updates via USB without an external programmer, cutting production cost. Its 1 MB Flash holds rich USB class stacks plus application code; the 120 MHz CPU headroom processes high-speed HID reports above 1000 Hz without dropping frames.
Recommended
CAN-Connected Industrial Nodes
The on-chip CAN controller and Cortex-M4 DSP extensions make the ATSAM4SA16CA-AUR well suited for CAN-connected industrial nodes such as sensor aggregators, motor-control slave drives, and building-automation endpoints. The Cortex-M4 DSP MAC instructions process CANopen or DeviceNet payload parsing in real time while the DMA offloads message buffer maintenance. Its 1 MB Flash stores CANopen stack + application logic; the EMAC provides backhaul to Ethernet gateways when nodes need to bridge CAN and IP networks.
Recommended
Smart Energy Meters and Sub-Metering
The ATSAM4SA16CA-AUR's 12-bit ADC, EMAC with 1588 PTP timestamping, and industrial temperature range suit smart electricity meters and submetering designs. PTP synchronization on the EMAC aligns revenue-grade metering timestamps to utility grandmaster clocks within a microsecond. Its 128 KB SRAM holds ADC sample windows for active/reactive power calculation; the 1 MB Flash stores Metrology firmware, DLMS/COSEM stacks, and secure bootloaders. The external bus interface (EBI) connects external SRAM or LCD controllers for metrology display panels.
Recommended
Building Automation Gateways
Building-automation gateways benefit from the ATSAM4SA16CA-AUR's combination of EMAC for IP backhaul, CAN for HVAC/bus field devices, USB for local configuration, and the 100-LQFP industrial temperature range. The 1 MB Flash holds BACnet, Modbus TCP, and KNX/IP stacks concurrently; the 128 KB SRAM buffers simultaneous TCP/UDP sessions with field devices. Its Cortex-M4 FPU accelerates trend analysis on 24-hour load profiles without offloading to a host processor.
Recommended
Point-of-Sale (POS) Terminals
POS terminals require USB peripherals (card readers, NFC), Ethernet connectivity (gateway sync), and a secure firmware base - all of which the ATSAM4SA16CA-AUR delivers on a single die. The Cortex-M4 FPU accelerates RSA/ECC signature verification in payment flows; the 1 MB Flash holds secure bootloader, EMVCo L1 stack, and Linux-compatible binary blobs. Its industrial temperature rating suits the enclosed thermal environment of receipt printers and integrated scanner displays.
Recommended
Audio Processing and DSP Front-Ends
The Cortex-M4 DSP extensions and single-precision FPU enable the ATSAM4SA16CA-AUR to run audio codecs (Opus, SBC), beamforming front-ends, and noise-suppression pipelines on-chip. Its 12-bit DAC and I2S-compatible peripherals connect directly to audio CODECs; 128 KB SRAM holds 48 kHz audio frames at low latency. Designers can use this MCU as a DSP pre-processor feeding a higher-end application processor, or as a standalone audio effect unit in consumer amplifiers and headphones.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for ATSAM4SA16CA-AUR β comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | ATSAM4SA16BA-AUR | ATSAM4SD16CA-AUR | ATSAM4S8CA-AU | LPC4078FBD100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology | NXP Semiconductors |
| Package | 100-LQFP (14x14) | 100-LQFP (14x14) - same | 100-LQFP (14x14) - same | 100-LQFP - same | 100-LQFP - same |
| Core | ARM Cortex-M4 FPU | ARM Cortex-M4 FPU | ARM Cortex-M4 FPU | ARM Cortex-M4 FPU | ARM Cortex-M4 FPU |
| Max CPU Clock | 120 MHz | 120 MHz | 120 MHz | 120 MHz | 120 MHz |
| Flash Memory | 1 MB | 1 MB | 2 MB (+100%) | 512 KB (-50%) | 512 KB (-50%) |
| SRAM | 128 KB | 128 KB | 128 KB | 128 KB | 96 KB (-25%) |
| USB | USB 2.0 FS Device/Host | USB 2.0 FS Device/Host | USB 2.0 FS Device/Host | USB 2.0 FS Device/Host | USB 2.0 FS Device/Host/OTG |
| EMAC (10/100) | Yes (with 1588 PTP) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Silicon Revision | MRL A | MRL B (bug-fix revision) | MRL A | MRL A | NXP revision |
| Operating Temperature | -40C to +85C | -40C to +85C | -40C to +85C | -40C to +85C | -40C to +85C |
Key Differentiators
- Largest Flash density in the 100-LQFP SAM4S line-up (vs ATSAM4S8CA-AU)
- Revision B silicon for production stability (vs ATSAM4SA16BA-AUR)
- Doubled Flash for code-growth upgrade path (vs ATSAM4SD16CA-AUR)
Design Notes
The ATSAM4SA16CA-AUR integrates a 1.2 V core LDO regulator supplied from VDDIO; place a 10 uF X7R decoupling capacitor close to the VDDIO pin and a 1 uF X7R close to the VDDCORE pin to suppress regulator instability. According to the SAM4S datasheet, VDDIO accepts 1.62 V to 3.6 V, so a single 3.3 V rail suffices for the entire MCU. Estimated: at 120 MHz active CPU load with all peripherals disabled, the core draws approximately 30 mA from VDDCORE, leaving thermal headroom in the 100-LQFP plastic.
When routing the 100-LQFP layout, fan out the inner ring (pins 22-39, 56-87) on internal layers and use a 4-layer stackup with continuous ground plane under the package to minimize return-path inductance for high-speed EBI and SPI signals. According to the SAM4S datasheet section on PCB recommendations, keep the USB DP/DM traces length-matched within 2 mm and isolate them from the analog ADC traces (PA4-PA15) by a ground guard ring. Estimated: the EBI bus can sustain 50 MHz at the 100-LQFP when properly terminated.
A common design pitfall is leaving the JTAGSEL pin floating - the SAM4S datasheet mandates JTAGSEL tied to VDDCORE for normal operation, or to VDDIO only when boundary scan is required. Pin 90 must never float, or the MCU may enter a debug state at power-up and not boot the application. Estimated: the NRST pin also requires a 10 kohm pull-up and 100 nF capacitor to VDDIO for stable brown-out recovery per the datasheet reference schematic.
Compliance Information
RoHS compliant per Microchip product page. Industrial temperature grade -40C to +85C. AEC-Q100 not applicable as this is a general-purpose MCU without automotive qualification on this part number.
