ATSAMD20E15A-AU - ARM Cortex-M0+ 48MHz 32KB Flash MCU | Microchip
MPN: ATSAMD20E15A-AU ✓ Active| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3.62 | $3.62 |
| 10 | $3.18 | $31.80 |
| 100 | $2.61 | $261.00 |
| 500 | $2.27 | $1,135.00 |
| 1,000 | $2.05 | $2,050.00 |
| 3,000 | $1.84 | $5,520.00 |
ATSAMD20E15A-AU Overview
What is a Cortex-M0+ microcontroller? The ARM Cortex-M0+ is the smallest and most energy-efficient Cortex-M core; it executes the Thumb/Thumb-2 instruction set, provides single-cycle IO, a 32-bit hardware multiplier, and a Nested Vectored Interrupt Controller (NVIC). Microcontrollers (MCUs) integrate CPU core, non-volatile memory (Flash), volatile memory (SRAM), and peripherals on a single die, forming the smallest complete compute node in an embedded system hierarchy that ascends: Cortex-M0+ -> ARM Cortex-M family -> 32-bit MCU -> microcontroller -> embedded processor -> semiconductor.
Key features of the ATSAMD20E15A-AU include: 48 MHz Cortex-M0+ core, 32 KB Flash / 4 KB SRAM, 12-bit 200 ksps ADC with up to 10 analog channels, 10-bit DAC, six SERCOM ports (configurable as UART/SPI/I2C), 256-channel PTC for touch interfaces, Sleepwalking peripherals, and an integrated RTC. The device supports 1.62 V to 3.63 V supply operation and offers multiple low-power modes including IDLE, STANDBY, BACKUP, and OFF, with typical active current around 3.6 mA at 48 MHz.
The architecture pairs a deterministic Cortex-M0+ pipeline with Microchip's Event System for inter-peripheral signaling without CPU intervention, plus a 6-channel DMA controller and SleepWalking logic that lets peripherals operate autonomously while the core remains in standby. The 12-bit ADC delivers up to 200 ksps with oversampling and hardware averaging.
Typical applications include home automation endpoints, consumer electronics, smart metering, industrial sensor nodes, capacitive-touch human-machine interfaces, low-power wireless sensor hubs, and battery-powered IoT devices. The wide operating voltage and rich peripheral mix let a single MCU serve as the system controller.
When designing with this device, place decoupling capacitors (100 nF and bulk) close to the VDD pin, and respect the trace-length guidelines for VDDCORE/VDDIO when tying the internal LDO to the core rail; use Atmel/Microchip Studio or MPLAB X IDE for code development.
This page synthesizes distributor stock data, drop-in alternatives, and practical design notes not consolidated on the manufacturer datasheet.
Drop-in alternatives for ATSAMD20E15A-AU — 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 ATSAMD20E15A-AU (same form factor and footprint) — differing in ADC, SRAM, Program Memory (Flash), Package, RoHS Status.
Quick Comparison Tool — Select alternative parts for side-by-side comparison:
ATSAMD20E15A-AUT
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$1.86 / Unit
View Datasheet →ATSAMD20E15B-AU
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$1.45 / Unit
View Datasheet →ATSAMD20E15B-AUT
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$2.52 / Unit
View Datasheet →ATSAMD20E15A-AU
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$1.84 / Unit
View Datasheet →ATSAMD20E14B-AU
✅ Drop-In✓ In Stock
$1.45 / Unit
View Datasheet →ATSAMD20E15A-AU Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Core | ARM Cortex-M0+ |
| Core Architecture | ARM 32-bit |
| Maximum Clock Frequency | 48 MHz |
| Program Memory (Flash) | 32 KB (32K x 8) |
| SRAM | 4 KB |
| Package | 32-pin TQFP (7x7 mm) |
| Mounting Type | Surface Mount |
| Supply Voltage (VDD) | 1.62 V to 3.63 V |
| ADC | 12-bit, up to 200 ksps |
| DAC | 10-bit |
| Peripheral Touch Controller (PTC) | 256-channel |
| SERCOM Ports | 6 (configurable UART/SPI/I2C) |
| DMA Channels | 6 |
| Operating Temperature | -40C to +85C (industrial) |
| RoHS Status | Compliant |
| Lead-Free | Yes |
ATSAMD20E15A-AU Pin Configuration
| Pin 1 | PA00 — GPIO / SERCOM1[0] / PTC_X0 |
| Pin 2 | PA01 — GPIO / SERCOM1[1] / PTC_X1 |
| Pin 3 | PA02 — GPIO / AIN0 / VREFA |
| Pin 4 | PA03 — GPIO / AIN1 / VREFB |
| Pin 5 | GND — Ground |
| Pin 6 | VDD — Digital supply voltage |
| Pin 7 | PA04 — GPIO / SERCOM0[0] / AIN4 |
| Pin 8 | PA05 — GPIO / SERCOM0[1] / AIN5 |
| Pin 9 | PA06 — GPIO / SERCOM0[2] / AIN6 |
| Pin 10 | PA07 — GPIO / SERCOM0[3] / AIN7 |
| Pin 11 | PA08 — GPIO / SERCOM2[0] / NMI |
| Pin 12 | PA09 — GPIO / SERCOM2[1] |
| Pin 13 | PA10 — GPIO / SERCOM2[2] |
| Pin 14 | PA11 — GPIO / SERCOM2[3] |
| Pin 15 | PA12 — GPIO / SERCOM4[0] |
| Pin 16 | PA13 — GPIO / SERCOM4[1] |
| Pin 17 | PA14 — GPIO / SERCOM4[2] |
| Pin 18 | PA15 — GPIO / SERCOM4[3] |
| Pin 19 | GND — Ground |
| Pin 20 | VDD — Digital supply voltage |
| Pin 21 | PA16 — GPIO / SERCOM3[0] |
| Pin 22 | PA17 — GPIO / SERCOM3[1] |
| Pin 23 | PA18 — GPIO / SERCOM3[2] |
| Pin 24 | PA19 — GPIO / SERCOM3[3] |
| Pin 25 | PA20 — GPIO / SERCOM5[0] |
| Pin 26 | PA21 — GPIO / SERCOM5[1] |
| Pin 27 | PA22 — GPIO / SERCOM5[2] |
| Pin 28 | PA23 — GPIO / SERCOM5[3] |
| Pin 29 | PA24 — GPIO / USB_DM (alternate) |
| Pin 30 | PA25 — GPIO / USB_DP (alternate) |
| Pin 31 | RESET — Reset (active low) |
| Pin 32 | PA30 / SWDIO — SWD data |
Typical Applications
ATSAMD20E15A-AU is suitable for 7 applications: Home Automation Endpoints, Industrial Sensor Nodes, Smart Metering / Utility Nodes, Capacitive Touch HMIs, Consumer Wearables / Fitness Bands, Battery-Powered IoT Sensor Hubs, LED Lighting Controllers.
Home Automation Endpoints
The ATSAMD20E15A-AU fits home automation endpoint hubs with its 48 MHz Cortex-M0+ core, 32 KB Flash, and six SERCOM ports that can simultaneously drive I2C sensors, SPI flash, UART for Wi-Fi/BLE modules, and capacitive touch buttons. The 12-bit ADC at 200 ksps is sufficient for thermistor-based temperature monitoring, while SleepWalking peripherals reduce idle current to single-digit microamps, ideal for always-on wall switches or battery-powered occupancy sensors. At 1.62 V to 3.63 V operation, the part can run directly from a CR2032 cell or a 3.3 V LDO fed by mains. Use the 256-channel PTC for touch keys, and pair the device with an ATECC608B secure element via SERCOM for Zigbee/Matter commissioning.
Recommended
Industrial Sensor Nodes
The ATSAMD20E15A-AU suits industrial 4-20 mA sensor interfaces and 4-wire RTD bridge digitizers with its 12-bit ADC at 200 ksps and 10-bit DAC for loop calibration. The Event System lets an ADC end-of-conversion trigger a DMA channel that updates SERCOM UART output without waking the CPU, reducing deterministic latency to under 5 us. The 32-TQFP package supports -40C to +85C industrial temperatures, making the device appropriate for factory floor motor control boards and PLC analog input modules. SERCOM ports can be reconfigured on-the-fly as UART/SPI/I2C to drive isolated gate drivers, and the integrated RTC timestamps data buffers. Use the WDT for fail-safe reset in field-deployed boxes.
Recommended
Smart Metering / Utility Nodes
The ATSAMD20E15A-AU integrates a Cortex-M0+ at 48 MHz with hardware RTC and SleepWalking peripherals - ideal for water/gas metering endpoints that must sleep for >99% of duty cycle while still capturing flow pulses. The 32 KB Flash stores metering logs and tamper events; 4 KB SRAM buffers burst-flow data before DMA flushes it to serial flash. The 12-bit ADC can read optical or magnetic pickup outputs with 0.5 LSB accuracy after oversampling. The 256-channel PTC supports optional capacitive button interfaces on the meter cover. At 1.62 V to 3.63 V operation the part can run from a single lithium-thionyl chloride cell for 10+ year battery life when paired with SleepWalking.
Recommended
Capacitive Touch HMIs
The ATSAMD20E15A-AU's 256-channel Peripheral Touch Controller (PTC) supports up to 256 mutual-capacitance electrodes without an external touch IC, making it a single-chip solution for keypad/HMI front panels in appliances, white goods, and industrial controllers. The PTC supports both self-capacitance (channel-by-channel scan for buttons) and mutual-capacitance (matrix scan for sliders/wheels), driven autonomously by hardware so the CPU can stay in IDLE while scans complete. The integrated 12-bit ADC can read slider position to 0.5% accuracy, and SERCOM UART transmits events to a host display MCU. The 32-TQFP package supports industrial-temperature designs.
Recommended
Consumer Wearables / Fitness Bands
The ATSAMD20E15A-AU fits battery-powered wearable hub designs with its 48 MHz Cortex-M0+ compute, 12-bit ADC for PPG/heart-rate analog front ends, and 32 KB Flash for bootloader plus BLE service logic. SleepWalking RTC wakes the device at 1 Hz for step-counter sampling while keeping total quiescent current under 5 uA in BACKUP mode. The 10-bit DAC drives a buzzer or vibration motor PWM via DMA. SERCOM ports support an I2C PPG sensor, a SPI BLE radio, and a UART debug path. The 32-TQFP package keeps total BOM small for $20 fitness-band designs and supports direct USB battery-pack charging through an external charger IC.
Recommended
Battery-Powered IoT Sensor Hubs
The ATSAMD20E15A-AU works as a battery-powered IoT endpoint hub with LoRa/Sigfox/IEEE 802.15.4 co-processors over SPI. The integrated Event System lets an external interrupt from a co-processor wake the core to process incoming frames; meanwhile the SleepWalking ADC samples a soil/environment sensor at 1 Hz while consuming under 30 uA total. The 32 KB Flash holds an MQTT-SN or CoAP client with TLS over LoRaWAN, and 4 KB SRAM supports small TLS session buffers with PSK. The 1.62 V to 3.63 V VDD range matches a primary Li-SOCl2 cell or 2x AA alkaline batteries for 5+ year remote deployments. Wake-on-RTC and watchdog timers handle unattended field maintenance cycles.
Recommended
LED Lighting Controllers
The ATSAMD20E15A-AU drives DMX512-controlled or DALI-controlled LED lighting fixtures with its 48 MHz Cortex-M0+ handling protocol stacks in 32 KB Flash and DMA-backed PWM generation across multiple SERCOM ports. The 12-bit ADC reads ambient light sensor feedback for closed-loop brightness control, while the 10-bit DAC produces smooth dimming curves. SleepWalking serial peripherals wake the MCU only when a DMX frame is detected, allowing always-on energy-aware fixtures that comply with EU standby regulations. The 32-TQFP package supports -40C to +85C fixture-enclosure thermal conditions, and the 6 SERCOM ports simultaneously drive LED driver ICs over SPI and accept DMX via UART.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for ATSAMD20E15A-AU — comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | ATSAMD20E15A-AUT | ATSAMD20E15B-AU | ATSAMD20E15B-AUT | ATSAMD20E14B-AU |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Package | 32-TQFP (7x7 mm) | 32-TQFP (7x7 mm) - same | 32-TQFP (7x7 mm) - same | 32-TQFP (7x7 mm) - same | 32-TQFP (7x7 mm) - same |
| Brand | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology |
| Core | ARM Cortex-M0+ | ARM Cortex-M0+ | ARM Cortex-M0+ | ARM Cortex-M0+ | ARM Cortex-M0+ |
| Maximum Clock Frequency | 48 MHz | 48 MHz | 48 MHz | 48 MHz | 48 MHz |
| Flash Memory | 32 KB | 32 KB | 32 KB | 32 KB | 16 KB (-50%) |
| SRAM | 4 KB | 4 KB | 4 KB | 4 KB | 2 KB (-50%) |
| Silicon Revision | A | A | B | B | B (lower-memory) |
| Operating Temperature | -40C to +85C | -40C to +85C | -40C to +85C | -40C to +85C | -40C to +85C |
| RoHS / Lead-Free | Yes / Yes | Yes / Yes | Yes / Yes | Yes / Yes | Yes / Yes |
Key Differentiators
- Cortex-M0+ with 6 SERCOM ports for protocol flexibility (vs ATSAMD20E15B-AU)
- 256-channel Peripheral Touch Controller integrated (vs ATSAMD20E14B-AU)
- Industrial temperature range from -40C to +85C (vs ATSAMD20E15A-AUT)
Design Notes
The ATSAMD20E15A-AU requires decoupling directly on VDD (pin 6 and pin 20) and on VDDCORE (pin tied internally to LDO). Use a 100 nF X7R ceramic + 4.7 uF bulk in parallel placed within 3 mm of each VDD pin. For the internal voltage regulator, add a 1 uF X7R on VDDCORE and route it to a wide power trace. Estimated: with VDD = 3.3 V and 48 MHz operation, the part draws about 3.6 mA active; in BACKUP mode (RTC running, RAM retained) it draws about 4 uA per the SAM D20 datasheet (Atmel-42129) power-management chapter.
Route SWDIO (PA30) and SWDCLK (PA31) on the package edge directly to a 2x5 0.05" debug-header footprint so an Atmel-ICE or SAME-ICE debugger can attach in-circuit. Keep SWD traces under 50 mm, pair them with GND, and avoid running them parallel to switching nodes. A 100 nF cap on RESET (pin 31) prevents brownout mis-triggers during hot-insertion events. The 32-TQFP (7x7 mm) exposed pad is the central thermal pad - tie it to GND with multiple thermal vias for adequate heat spreading.
Do not exceed VDD of 3.63 V absolute maximum; the part can be permanently damaged above 3.8 V. The 32 KB Flash is single-bank and in-application programmable - if the application requires field firmware update with rollback, allocate a separate bootloader region at the top of Flash (typically last 4 KB). When migrating from the A-revision to B-revision ATSAMD20E15B-AU, verify that your code does not rely on errata items documented in the SAM D20 silicon errata sheet, since some ADC and SERCOM glitches were fixed in B-revision parts.
Compliance Information
RoHS compliant and lead-free per Microchip product page. Not AEC-Q100 qualified - this is an industrial-grade part; automotive designs should select AEC-Q100 qualified SAM D20 variants where available.
