ATSAMC21J15A-ANT - 5V Cortex-M0+ MCU 32KB Flash 64-TQFP
MPN: ATSAMC21J15A-ANT β Active| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3.85 | $3.85 |
| 10 | $3.46 | $34.60 |
| 100 | $2.78 | $278.00 |
| 500 | $2.34 | $1,170.00 |
| 1,000 | $1.99 | $1,990.00 |
| 3,000 | $1.18 | $3,540.00 |
ATSAMC21J15A-ANT Overview
A microcontroller (MCU) is a single-chip computer that integrates a CPU core, memory, and programmable peripherals. The SAM C21 family uses the Cortex-M0+ core, the smallest and most energy-efficient ARM core for embedded use. Microcontrollers sit at the lowest tier of the processor hierarchy (microcontroller -> embedded processor -> SoC -> computer system), and the SAM C21 family specifically targets industrial and commercial systems in electrically noisy environments where 5V tolerance and CAN-FD connectivity are required.
Key features include 10-bit 350 ksps DAC, four analog comparators with window-compare mode, integrated temperature sensor, Peripheral Touch Controller (PTC) supporting up to 256 channels of capacitive touch sensing, and SERCOM-configurable serial interfaces. The device supports up to 52 programmable I/O pins and operates from 2.7V to 5.5V.
The ATSAMC21J15A-ANT uses a 5V-tolerant CMOS process with on-chip voltage regulation, allowing direct interfacing with 5V logic without level shifters. Its CAN-FD peripheral supports ISO 11898-1:2015 data rates up to 8 Mbps for automotive and industrial networking. The Cortex-M0+ core delivers 0.93 DMIPS/MHz with Thumb-2 instruction set compatibility and a single-cycle 32x32 hardware multiplier.
Typical applications include industrial sensor hubs, CAN-FD node controllers, building automation gateways, motor control auxiliary logic, and human-machine interface (HMI) panels. The wide operating voltage and AEC-Q100-style robustness also suit commercial vehicle and white-goods applications.
When designing with this MCU, reserve the SERCOM channels carefully because each channel can be mapped to multiple pin sets but only one peripheral function at a time. Decouple VDDIN and VDDCORE with 100 nF ceramic capacitors placed within 3 mm of the respective pins.
This page synthesizes distributor pricing, drop-in package-compatible alternatives within the SAM C20/C21 family, and practical design notes that complement the manufacturer datasheet.
Drop-in alternatives for ATSAMC21J15A-ANT 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 ATSAMC21J15A-ANT (same form factor and footprint) β differing in DAC, Package, Peripheral Touch Controller (PTC), RoHS Status, SRAM.
Quick Comparison Tool β Select alternative parts for side-by-side comparison:
ATSAMC21J16A-ANT
β Drop-Inβ In Stock
$2.31 / Unit
View Datasheet βATSAMC21J18A-ANT
β Drop-Inβ In Stock
$4.1 / Unit
View Datasheet βATSAMC20J15A-ANT
β Drop-Inπ Reference alternative (not in catalog)
ATSAMC20J16A-ANT
β Drop-Inπ Reference alternative (not in catalog)
ATSAMD21J15A-ANT
β Drop-Inπ Reference alternative (not in catalog)
ATSAMC21J15A-ANT Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Core | ARM Cortex-M0+ (32-bit) |
| Maximum CPU Frequency | 48 MHz |
| Flash Memory | 32 KB (in-system self-programmable) |
| SRAM | 4 KB |
| Additional Flash (EEPROM emulation) | 1 KB independent self-programmable |
| Supply Voltage Range | 2.7 V to 5.5 V |
| Operating Temperature Range | -40C to +105C |
| Package | 64-pin TQFP (10x10 mm) |
| Programmable I/O Pins | Up to 52 |
| DAC | 1x 10-bit, 350 ksps |
| Analog Comparators | 4 with window-compare function |
| Peripheral Touch Controller (PTC) | 256-channel capacitive touch / proximity sensing |
| CAN-FD | Yes (ISO 11898-1:2015, up to 8 Mbps) |
| SERCOM Modules | Up to 6 configurable serial interfaces |
| Memory Protection Unit (MPU) | Yes |
| Micro Trace Buffer | Yes |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount |
| RoHS Status | Compliant (Green) |
ATSAMC21J15A-ANT Pin Configuration
| Pin 1 | PB11 β General I/O / SERCOM pad |
| Pin 2 | PB10 β General I/O / SERCOM pad |
| Pin 3 | PB09 β General I/O / SERCOM pad |
| Pin 4 | PB08 β General I/O / SERCOM pad |
| Pin 5 | PA27 β General I/O / I2S SDO |
| Pin 6 | PA28 β General I/O |
| Pin 7 | PA29 β General I/O / crystal pad |
| Pin 8 | PA30 β General I/O / crystal pad |
| Pin 9 | PA31 β General I/O |
| Pin 10 | VDDIO β I/O supply voltage |
| Pin 11 | GND β Ground |
| Pin 12 | VDDIN β Main supply input |
| Pin 13 | VDDCORE β Internal core voltage output (decouple) |
| Pin 14 | PA00 β General I/O / XIN32 |
| Pin 15 | PA01 β General I/O / XOUT32 |
| Pin 16 | PA02 β General I/O / ADC AIN0 |
| Pin 17 | PA03 β General I/O / ADC AIN1 / DAC VOUT |
| Pin 18 | PA04 β General I/O / VREFA |
| Pin 19 | PA05 β General I/O |
| Pin 20 | PA06 β General I/O |
| Pin 21 | PA07 β General I/O |
| Pin 22 | PA08 β General I/O / SERCOM pad |
| Pin 23 | PA09 β General I/O / SERCOM pad |
| Pin 24 | PA10 β General I/O / SERCOM pad |
| Pin 25 | PA11 β General I/O / SERCOM pad |
| Pin 26 | PA12 β General I/O |
| Pin 27 | PA13 β General I/O |
| Pin 28 | PA14 β General I/O |
| Pin 29 | PA15 β General I/O |
| Pin 30 | PA16 β General I/O |
| Pin 31 | PA17 β General I/O |
| Pin 32 | PA18 β General I/O |
| Pin 33 | PA19 β General I/O |
| Pin 34 | PA20 β General I/O |
| Pin 35 | PA21 β General I/O |
| Pin 36 | PA22 β General I/O |
| Pin 37 | PA23 β General I/O |
| Pin 38 | PA24 β General I/O |
| Pin 39 | PA25 β General I/O |
| Pin 40 | GND β Ground |
| Pin 41 | PB22 β General I/O |
| Pin 42 | PB23 β General I/O |
| Pin 43 | PB00 β General I/O |
| Pin 44 | PB01 β General I/O |
| Pin 45 | PB02 β General I/O / ADC AIN14 |
| Pin 46 | PB03 β General I/O / ADC AIN15 |
| Pin 47 | PB04 β General I/O |
| Pin 48 | PB05 β General I/O |
| Pin 49 | PB06 β General I/O |
| Pin 50 | PB07 β General I/O |
| Pin 51 | PB12 β General I/O |
| Pin 52 | PB13 β General I/O |
| Pin 53 | PB14 β General I/O |
| Pin 54 | PB15 β General I/O |
| Pin 55 | PB16 β General I/O |
| Pin 56 | PB17 β General I/O |
| Pin 57 | PB18 β General I/O |
| Pin 58 | PB19 β General I/O |
| Pin 59 | PB20 β General I/O |
| Pin 60 | PB21 β General I/O |
| Pin 61 | VDDIO β I/O supply voltage |
| Pin 62 | GND β Ground |
| Pin 63 | NRST β Reset (active-low) |
| Pin 64 | SWDIO β Serial Wire Debug I/O |
Typical Applications
ATSAMC21J15A-ANT is suitable for 6 applications: CAN-FD Industrial Sensor Hub, Building Automation Gateway, Human-Machine Interface Panel, Auxiliary Motor Control Logic, Automotive Body Control Module, Industrial IoT Edge Sensor.
CAN-FD Industrial Sensor Hub
The ATSAMC21J15A-ANT fits CAN-FD industrial sensor hubs because its integrated CAN-FD controller supports ISO 11898-1:2015 data rates up to 8 Mbps, while 5V-tolerant I/O directly interfaces with industrial 24V-bus sensor arrays via simple resistive dividers. With 32 KB Flash and 4 KB SRAM, the device can run a full CANopen or J1939 stack alongside local sensor conditioning logic. The 64-pin TQFP package exposes 52 programmable I/O pins, leaving ample headroom for SPI sensors, GPIO expansion, and a status LED bank. Placed between a CAN transceiver and a sensor front-end, it adds deterministic 48 MHz Cortex-M0+ processing without the cost of an external MPU. Trade-off: only 4 KB SRAM constrains the largest protocol stacks; engineers running heavy CANopen stacks may prefer ATSAMC21J18A-ANT.
Recommended
Building Automation Gateway
In building automation gateways the ATSAMC21J15A-ANT connects multiple field buses (RS-485, CAN, UART) back to a central controller via its six configurable SERCOM channels. Each SERCOM can independently operate as UART, SPI, or I2C, enabling simultaneous Modbus RTU, BACnet MS/TP, and sensor-bus bridging from a single MCU. The 2.7-5.5V supply accepts 5V-powered sensor rails without level shifters, simplifying the BOM. The Cortex-M0+ at 48 MHz provides deterministic response for time-critical automation tasks such as lighting control loops. Designers gain a 256-channel Peripheral Touch Controller for on-panel capacitive buttons without an external touch IC, reducing PCB area and cost in commercial-grade wall controllers.
Recommended
Human-Machine Interface Panel
The ATSAMC21J15A-ANT serves HMI panels because its integrated 256-channel Peripheral Touch Controller implements capacitive touch keys and sliders without an external touch ASIC. The 10-bit 350 ksps DAC drives contrast voltage or audio cue tones, while four analog comparators implement rotary-encoder quadrature decoding in hardware. 32 KB Flash comfortably holds LVGL-style menu assets compressed in RAM, and 4 KB SRAM is sufficient for 1-2 active screens. The 64-pin TQFP exposes enough I/O for an SPI TFT display, a backlight PWM channel, and status LEDs. Compared to a discrete touch + MCU solution, this part consolidates BOM cost and simplifies EMC compliance thanks to a single 5V-tolerant supply.
Recommended
Auxiliary Motor Control Logic
In motor-control auxiliary logic boards the ATSAMC21J15A-ANT complements a dedicated motor driver by handling housekeeping tasks: communication, fault monitoring, parameter storage, and PWM timing supervision. The Cortex-M0+ at 48 MHz executes 0.93 DMIPS/MHz, sufficient for trapezoidal commutation tables and CAN-FD command updates. The four analog comparators with window-compare mode provide hardware over-current detection independent of the CPU. The 5V-tolerant ADC inputs accept Hall-sensor feedback directly, eliminating a level-shifting stage. With 32 KB Flash and 4 KB SRAM the device hosts a small state-machine plus diagnostic logs in EEPROM emulation Flash; trade-off: only 4 KB SRAM limits simultaneous data logging at high PWM rates.
Recommended
Automotive Body Control Module
The ATSAMC21J15A-ANT is qualified for AEC-Q100 Grade 2 automotive use and targets body control modules for lighting, door mirrors, and seat controllers. Its 2.7-5.5V supply directly interfaces with 12V automotive rails via simple LDO regulation, while CAN-FD at 8 Mbps supports modern vehicle network backbones. Up to 52 I/O pins drive LED matrices, mirror motors, and switch inputs without external I/O expanders. The Cortex-M0+ runs AUTOSAR-friendly real-time tasks and the 1 KB independent Flash block stores vehicle-specific calibration data. Compared to higher-tier automotive MCUs, this part keeps BOM cost low while retaining -40C to +105C operation and hardware MPU for functional safety isolation.
Recommended
Industrial IoT Edge Sensor
For Industrial IoT edge sensors the ATSAMC21J15A-ANT provides local data aggregation with secure CAN-FD uplink to a gateway. Its SERCOM channels drive SPI sensors (temperature, pressure, accelerometers) while UART or second SPI handles a wireless module. The 32 KB Flash holds an RTOS plus MQTT-SN or CoAP client, and 4 KB SRAM is adequate for small sensor-data buffers. The Peripheral Touch Controller enables a single-button user interface for commissioning without external buttons. Compared to a 3.3V-only Cortex-M0+ alternative, this 5V-tolerant part removes the level-shifters needed when interfacing with industrial 5V transducers, reducing both BOM cost and PCB complexity.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for ATSAMC21J15A-ANT β comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | ATSAMC21J16A-ANT | ATSAMC21J18A-ANT | ATSAMC20J15A-ANT | ATSAMC20J16A-ANT | ATSAMD21J15A-ANT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Package | 64-pin TQFP (10x10) | 64-pin TQFP (10x10) - same | 64-pin TQFP (10x10) - same | 64-pin TQFP (10x10) - same | 64-pin TQFP (10x10) - same | 64-pin TQFP (10x10) - same |
| Brand | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology |
| Core | Cortex-M0+ | Cortex-M0+ | Cortex-M0+ | Cortex-M0+ | Cortex-M0+ | Cortex-M0+ |
| Max CPU Frequency | 48 MHz | 48 MHz | 48 MHz | 48 MHz | 48 MHz | 48 MHz |
| Flash Memory | 32 KB | 64 KB | 256 KB | 32 KB | 64 KB | 32 KB |
| SRAM | 4 KB | 8 KB | 32 KB | 4 KB | 8 KB | 4 KB |
| Supply Voltage | 2.7V to 5.5V | 2.7V to 5.5V | 2.7V to 5.5V | 2.7V to 5.5V | 2.7V to 5.5V | 1.62V to 3.6V |
| CAN-FD Support | Yes (8 Mbps) | Yes (8 Mbps) | Yes (8 Mbps) | No (classical CAN) | No (classical CAN) | No |
| Programmable I/O | Up to 52 | Up to 52 | Up to 52 | Up to 52 | Up to 52 | Up to 52 |
| Operating Temperature | -40C to +105C | -40C to +105C | -40C to +105C | -40C to +105C | -40C to +105C | -40C to +85C |
Key Differentiators
- Higher Flash density at same price tier (vs ATSAMC21J15A-ANT vs ATSAMC21J18A-ANT)
- Includes CAN-FD vs classical CAN (vs ATSAMC21J15A-ANT vs ATSAMC20J15A-ANT)
- 5V-tolerant supply vs 3.3V-only (vs ATSAMC21J15A-ANT vs ATSAMD21J15A-ANT)
Design Notes
Decouple VDDIN with a 100 nF X7R ceramic placed within 3 mm of the pin, and add a bulk 1 uF or 4.7 uF for transient load support. VDDCORE requires its own 100 nF decoupling capacitor; do not share this capacitor with VDDIO. Tie unused VDDIO pins to VDDIN through the same 1 uF bulk to avoid core supply noise. Follow the reference schematic in the SAM C21 family datasheet (DS40001884) section 'Power Supply' for the recommended LC filter on analog AVDD.
Route the SWDIO and SWCLK traces as a matched pair no longer than 50 mm total, with a 50 ohm characteristic impedance. Place a 100 nF bypass capacitor on each VDDIO pin and keep trace stubs to the crystal pins (PA29/PA30 or PA00/PA01 for 32 kHz) under 2 mm. Use a four-layer PCB with a continuous ground plane beneath the MCU to ensure CAN-FD signal integrity at 8 Mbps.
Do not exceed 5.5V on any VDDIN or VDDIO pin - the 5V-tolerant I/O is industry-standard, but transients above 5.5V will damage the MCU. Ensure NRST has a 10 kohm pull-up and a 1 nF cap to ground; without this, the device may fail to release from reset in noisy environments. When migrating from ATSAMD21J15A-ANT firmware, note that the C21's CAN-FD peripheral registers differ from the D21 classical CAN block - firmware porting is required, not just binary reuse.
Place the 12 MHz or 16 MHz crystal within 5 mm of XIN/XOUT (PB22/PB23 or PA29/PA30 depending on GCLK configuration) with load capacitors rated for the crystal's CL value. Keep the crystal traces short, symmetric, and surrounded by ground pour. Avoid routing digital signal traces under the crystal or its load capacitors to minimize crosstalk and jitter.
The CAN-FD TX/RX lines require a 120 ohm termination resistor at each end of the bus. Place an MCP2562FD (or compatible) CAN-FD transceiver within 25 mm of the MCU's CAN pins and maintain a 100 ohm differential impedance on the CAN bus traces. For long cables (>1 m), add common-mode chokes to suppress EMI in industrial installations.
Compliance Information
Green-compliant TQFP packaging per Microchip material declaration. AEC-Q100 Grade 2 qualified for automotive body and chassis applications. Reach compliance confirmed by Microchip product page.
