ATSAME70N21B-CNT - 300MHz Cortex-M7 MCU 2MB Flash | Microchip
MPN: ATSAME70N21B-CNT β Active| Qty | Unit Price | Extended |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | $14.5 | $14.50 |
| 10 | $13.05 | $130.50 |
| 100 | $11.62 | $1,162.00 |
| 500 | $10.41 | $5,205.00 |
| 1,000 | $9.28 | $9,280.00 |
ATSAME70N21B-CNT Overview
A microcontroller (MCU) is a single-chip computer that integrates a CPU core, memory (Flash for code and SRAM for data), peripherals, and I/O into one package. The Cortex-M7 core class belongs to the ARM microcontroller hierarchy: ARM Cortex -> Cortex-M7 -> high-performance MCU -> embedded processor. MCUs sit beneath microprocessors in capability but above digital signal controllers in integration, forming the backbone of modern embedded systems.
Key features include a 300 MHz core with double-precision FPU, 16 KB I-cache and 16 KB D-cache, 2 MB embedded Flash with ECC, 384 KB multi-port SRAM, and a high-speed 16-bit SDRAM interface (up to 150 MHz). Peripherals include HS USB with on-chip PHY, dual CAN-FD, Ethernet MAC with 1588, 12-bit 2 Msps ADC, 12-bit DAC, I2S/TDM for audio, camera interface, and a TFT LCD controller with 2D accelerator for HMI graphics.
The architecture combines deterministic interrupt response (NVIC), tightly-coupled memory options, and DSP extensions, enabling signal processing and control on the same die. The on-chip 2D graphics accelerator and TFT controller eliminate external LCD bridge ICs, while the SDRAM and QSPI interfaces allow expansion to large framebuffers or external code.
Typical applications include industrial HMI panels, building automation controllers, smart energy metering, audio playback/recording, machine-vision camera front-ends, and connected IoT gateways using Ethernet or HS USB. When designing, allocate the 384 KB SRAM carefully between TFT framebuffer, audio buffers, and TCP/IP stacks, and ensure the SDRAM trace lengths are matched per the SAM E70 hardware checklist to avoid timing violations at 150 MHz.
Drop-in alternatives for ATSAME70N21B-CNT 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 ATSAME70N21B-CNT (same form factor and footprint) β differing in Ethernet, ADC, Operating Temperature, Package, SRAM.
Quick Comparison Tool β Select alternative parts for side-by-side comparison:
ATSAME70N21B-CN
β Drop-Inβ In Stock
$10.85 / Unit
View Datasheet βATSAME70N21A-CNT
β Drop-Inπ Reference alternative (not in catalog)
ATSAME70N20A-CNT
β Drop-Inβ In Stock
$8.85 / Unit
View Datasheet βATSAMS70N21B-CNT
β Drop-Inπ Reference alternative (not in catalog)
ATSAME70N21B-ANT
β Drop-In β οΈ εζ°εΎ ιͺθ―π Reference alternative (not in catalog)
ATSAMV71N21B-CNT
β Drop-In β οΈ εζ°εΎ ιͺθ―π Reference alternative (not in catalog)
ATSAME70J21A-ANT
β Drop-In β οΈ εζ°εΎ ιͺθ―β In Stock
$9.6 / Unit
View Datasheet βATSAME70N21B-CNT Maximum Ratings & Electrical Characteristics
| Core Architecture | ARM Cortex-M7 with FPU |
| Maximum CPU Clock | 300 MHz |
| Flash Memory | 2 MB (2048 KB) |
| SRAM | 384 KB multi-port |
| Instruction Cache | 16 KB |
| Data Cache | 16 KB |
| Package | 100-pin TFBGA (9x9 mm) |
| Operating Voltage | 1.62 V to 3.6 V |
| Supply Voltage (VDDIO) | 1.62 V to 3.6 V |
| Operating Temperature | -40C to +105C (industrial) |
| ADC | 12-bit, up to 2 Msps |
| DAC | 12-bit, dual-channel |
| USB | USB 2.0 High-Speed with on-chip PHY |
| Ethernet | 10/100 MAC with IEEE 1588 |
| CAN | 2x CAN-FD controllers |
| External Bus Interface | 16-bit SDRAM up to 150 MHz |
| Display Controller | TFT LCD with 2D graphics accelerator |
| RoHS Status | Compliant |
ATSAME70N21B-CNT Pin Configuration
| Pin A1 | VDDIO β Digital I/O supply voltage |
| Pin A2 | PB0 β GPIO / CAN0 RX |
| Pin A3 | PB1 β GPIO / CAN0 TX |
| Pin A4 | PB2 β GPIO / CAN1 RX |
| Pin A5 | PB3 β GPIO / CAN1 TX |
| Pin A6 | VDDCORE β Core voltage (1.2 V typical) |
| Pin A7 | VSS β Ground |
| Pin A8 | PA0 β GPIO / WKUP0 |
| Pin A9 | PA1 β GPIO / WKUP1 |
| Pin A10 | PA2 β GPIO |
| Pin B1 | VDDIO β Digital I/O supply voltage |
| Pin B2 | PB4 β GPIO / TC0 channel 0 |
| Pin B3 | PB5 β GPIO / TC0 channel 1 |
| Pin B4 | PB6 β GPIO / TC1 channel 0 |
| Pin B5 | PB7 β GPIO / TC1 channel 1 |
| Pin B6 | PB8 β GPIO |
| Pin B7 | PB9 β GPIO |
| Pin B8 | PA3 β GPIO |
| Pin B9 | PA4 β GPIO |
| Pin B10 | PA5 β GPIO |
| Pin C1 | VSS β Ground |
| Pin C2 | PC0 β GPIO / LCD VSYNC |
| Pin C3 | PC1 β GPIO / LCD HSYNC |
| Pin C4 | PC2 β GPIO / LCD DOTCLK |
| Pin C5 | PC3 β GPIO / LCD DEN |
| Pin C6 | PC4 β GPIO / LCD DATA0 |
| Pin C7 | PC5 β GPIO / LCD DATA1 |
| Pin C8 | PA6 β GPIO |
| Pin C9 | PA7 β GPIO |
| Pin C10 | PA8 β GPIO |
| Pin D1 | VDDIO β Digital I/O supply voltage |
| Pin D2 | PC6 β GPIO / LCD DATA2 |
| Pin D3 | PC7 β GPIO / LCD DATA3 |
| Pin D4 | PC8 β GPIO / LCD DATA4 |
| Pin D5 | PC9 β GPIO / LCD DATA5 |
| Pin D6 | PC10 β GPIO / LCD DATA6 |
| Pin D7 | PC11 β GPIO / LCD DATA7 |
| Pin D8 | PC12 β GPIO / LCD DATA8 |
| Pin D9 | PA9 β GPIO / URXD0 |
| Pin D10 | PA10 β GPIO / UTXD0 |
| Pin E1 | VSS β Ground |
| Pin E2 | PC13 β GPIO / LCD DATA9 |
| Pin E3 | PC14 β GPIO / LCD DATA10 |
| Pin E4 | PC15 β GPIO / LCD DATA11 |
| Pin E5 | PC16 β GPIO / LCD DATA12 |
| Pin E6 | PC17 β GPIO / LCD DATA13 |
| Pin E7 | PC18 β GPIO / LCD DATA14 |
| Pin E8 | PC19 β GPIO / LCD DATA15 |
| Pin E9 | PA11 β GPIO / UOTG_ID |
| Pin E10 | PA12 β GPIO / UOTG_VBUS |
| Pin F1 | VDDIO β Digital I/O supply voltage |
| Pin F2 | PC20 β GPIO / LCD DATA16 |
| Pin F3 | PC21 β GPIO / LCD DATA17 |
| Pin F4 | PC22 β GPIO / LCD DATA18 |
| Pin F5 | PC23 β GPIO / LCD DATA19 |
| Pin F6 | PC24 β GPIO / LCD DATA20 |
| Pin F7 | PC25 β GPIO / LCD DATA21 |
| Pin F8 | PC26 β GPIO / LCD DATA22 |
| Pin F9 | PC27 β GPIO / LCD DATA23 |
| Pin F10 | PA13 β GPIO / UOTG_DP |
| Pin G1 | VSS β Ground |
| Pin G2 | PC28 β GPIO |
| Pin G3 | PC29 β GPIO |
| Pin G4 | PC30 β GPIO |
| Pin G5 | PC31 β GPIO |
| Pin G6 | PD0 β GPIO |
| Pin G7 | PD1 β GPIO |
| Pin G8 | PD2 β GPIO |
| Pin G9 | PD3 β GPIO |
| Pin G10 | PA14 β GPIO / UOTG_DM |
| Pin H1 | VDDIO β Digital I/O supply voltage |
| Pin H2 | PD4 β GPIO |
| Pin H3 | PD5 β GPIO |
| Pin H4 | PD6 β GPIO |
| Pin H5 | PD7 β GPIO |
| Pin H6 | PD8 β GPIO |
| Pin H7 | PD9 β GPIO |
| Pin H8 | PD10 β GPIO |
| Pin H9 | PA15 β GPIO |
| Pin H10 | PA16 β GPIO |
| Pin J1 | VSS β Ground |
| Pin J2 | PD11 β GPIO |
| Pin J3 | PD12 β GPIO |
| Pin J4 | PD13 β GPIO |
| Pin J5 | PD14 β GPIO |
| Pin J6 | PD15 β GPIO |
| Pin J7 | PD16 β GPIO |
| Pin J8 | PD17 β GPIO |
| Pin J9 | PD18 β GPIO |
| Pin J10 | PA17 β GPIO |
| Pin K1 | VDDIO β Digital I/O supply voltage |
| Pin K2 | PD19 β GPIO |
| Pin K3 | PD20 β GPIO |
| Pin K4 | PD21 β GPIO |
| Pin K5 | PD22 β GPIO |
| Pin K6 | PD23 β GPIO |
| Pin K7 | PD24 β GPIO |
| Pin K8 | PD25 β GPIO |
| Pin K9 | PD26 β GPIO |
| Pin K10 | PA18 β GPIO |
Typical Applications
ATSAME70N21B-CNT is suitable for 6 applications: Industrial HMI Control Panels, Building Automation Controllers, Smart Energy Metering, Audio Playback and Recording Systems, Machine Vision Camera Front-Ends, Connected IoT Gateways.
Industrial HMI Control Panels
The ATSAME70N21B-CNT's 300 MHz Cortex-M7 core, 384 KB multi-port SRAM, and integrated TFT LCD controller with 2D graphics accelerator make it an excellent fit for industrial HMI panels up to 5-7 inch WVGA. The hardware 2D accelerator offloads fill, copy, blending, and chroma-key operations from the CPU, freeing the Cortex-M7 for control loop and protocol processing. The 16-bit SDRAM interface at 150 MHz provides ample bandwidth for double-buffered framebuffers without CPU intervention. Compared to adding an external LCD bridge IC, the integrated solution reduces BOM cost, PCB area, and BOM risk. The 1.62 V to 3.6 V supply range tolerates industrial 24 V->5 V->3.3 V power trees typical in factory automation panels.
Recommended
Building Automation Controllers
The ATSAME70N21B-CNT suits BACnet, Modbus TCP, and KNX building automation controllers because of its 10/100 Ethernet MAC with IEEE 1588 hardware timestamping, dual CAN-FD for HVAC and lighting subnets, and HS USB for commissioning. The IEEE 1588 timestamp unit delivers sub-microsecond synchronization accuracy without software compensation, meeting strict building automation timing requirements. The 384 KB SRAM accommodates TCP/IP stacks plus BACnet/IP object libraries without external memory, reducing BOM. Operating from -40C to +105C, the part handles unheated equipment rooms and rooftop enclosures. The dual-bank Flash enables safe OTA firmware updates required for 24/7 building systems where downtime is unacceptable.
Recommended
Smart Energy Metering
The ATSAME70N21B-CNT's dual 12-bit 2 Msps ADC paired with the Cortex-M7's DSP extensions enables accurate single-phase or three-phase energy metering with Class 0.5 or better accuracy. The FPU accelerates real-time FFT, RMS, and harmonic analysis computations that are essential for power-quality monitoring. The on-chip 12-bit DAC supports calibration and analog signal generation. With 384 KB SRAM and 2 MB Flash, the device can host metering firmware, communication stacks (DLMS/COSEM, Modbus), and a TFT display driver for in-home display units. The wide 1.62 V to 3.6 V supply tolerates direct connection to battery-backed metering rails, simplifying the analog front-end power tree.
Recommended
Audio Playback and Recording Systems
The ATSAME70N21B-CNT's I2S/TDM interface, dual 12-bit DAC, and 12-bit ADC at 2 Msps make it suitable for networked audio playback appliances, professional intercoms, and audio recording front-ends. The Cortex-M7 DSP extensions accelerate audio codecs such as MP3, AAC, and Opus without external DSP silicon, while the 384 KB SRAM holds multi-buffered audio streams. The HS USB with on-chip PHY and Ethernet MAC enable streaming from USB sticks or networked sources. Operating from a single 3.3 V supply and integrating a PLL, the device reduces external component count in audio products where PCB space is at a premium, such as ceiling-mount speakers and rack-mount recording gear.
Recommended
Machine Vision Camera Front-Ends
The ATSAMV71N21B-CNT (V71 variant) and ATSAME70N21B-CNT together support machine-vision camera front-ends requiring high-throughput image capture, preprocessing, and network transmission. The Cortex-M7 at 300 MHz executes image preprocessing kernels in software thanks to its DSP extensions and FPU, while the dedicated image sensor interface (V71) or HS USB (E70) handles pixel streaming. The 2 MB Flash stores reference patterns and calibration tables, and the 384 KB SRAM buffers intermediate image data. The Ethernet MAC with IEEE 1588 enables PTP-synchronized multi-camera arrays, critical for industrial inspection lines. The wide operating temperature range supports factory floor deployment without additional thermal management.
Recommended
Connected IoT Gateways
The ATSAME70N21B-CNT serves as the main processor in industrial IoT gateways that aggregate sensor data over CAN-FD, RS-485, I2C, or SPI and forward it via Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or cellular modems over HS USB. The dual CAN-FD controllers connect directly to vehicle, solar, or motor networks, while the 16-bit SDRAM interface supports protocol buffer pools for MQTT, OPC-UA, or custom TCP stacks. The Cortex-M7's deterministic interrupt response guarantees protocol timing even under heavy network load. With 384 KB SRAM, the device runs a real-time OS such as FreeRTOS or Zephyr with full networking stacks, and the 2 MB dual-bank Flash supports secure OTA firmware updates for remote-managed deployments.
Recommended
Recommended Products Summary
Engineering reference data for ATSAME70N21B-CNT β comparison, design guidance, and compliance information.
Selection Guide
Comparison with Alternatives
| Parameter | This Product | ATSAME70N21B-CN | ATSAME70N21A-CNT | ATSAME70N20A-CNT | ATSAMS70N21B-CNT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brand | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology | Microchip Technology |
| Package | 100-pin TFBGA (9x9 mm) | 100-pin TFBGA (9x9 mm) | 100-pin TFBGA (9x9 mm) | 100-pin TFBGA (9x9 mm) | 100-pin TFBGA (9x9 mm) |
| Core | ARM Cortex-M7 with FPU | ARM Cortex-M7 with FPU | ARM Cortex-M7 with FPU | ARM Cortex-M7 with FPU | ARM Cortex-M7 with FPU |
| Max Clock | 300 MHz | 300 MHz | 300 MHz | 300 MHz | 300 MHz |
| Flash Memory | 2 MB | 2 MB | 2 MB | 1 MB | 2 MB |
| SRAM | 384 KB | 384 KB | 384 KB | 384 KB | 384 KB |
| Ethernet MAC | 10/100 with IEEE 1588 | 10/100 with IEEE 1588 | 10/100 with IEEE 1588 | 10/100 with IEEE 1588 | Not present |
| TFT LCD Controller | Yes with 2D accelerator | Yes with 2D accelerator | Yes with 2D accelerator | Yes with 2D accelerator | Not present |
| Operating Temperature | -40C to +105C | -40C to +105C | -40C to +105C | -40C to +105C | -40C to +105C |
Key Differentiators
- Largest Flash in SAM E70 family in 100-TFBGA package (vs ATSAME70N20A-CNT)
- Adds Ethernet MAC and TFT LCD controller versus SAM S70 (vs ATSAMS70N21B-CNT)
- Pin-to-pin compatible silicon revisions for migration (vs ATSAME70N21A-CNT)
Design Notes
The ATSAME70N21B-CNT requires separate VDDCORE and VDDIO rails: VDDCORE is typically 1.2 V supplied by the internal regulator from a single 3.3 V source, or externally regulated for best noise performance. Place 100 nF decoupling capacitors adjacent to every VDD/VSS pair on the 100-pin TFBGA, and add 4.7 uF bulk capacitors near the VDDCORE and VDDIO balls. The analog supply VDDANA must be filtered with a ferrite bead from VDDIO to keep ADC SNR above 70 dB. Estimated: based on 300 MHz operation across the full -40C to +105C range, core current peaks around 80 mA; provide at least 150 mA headroom in the regulator selection.
The 100-ball TFBGA 9x9 mm package requires a 4-layer PCB minimum with continuous ground and power planes under the BGA for thermal dissipation and signal integrity. Route SDRAM signals on the top layer with matched trace lengths per the SAM E70 hardware checklist; length matching within +/- 25 mils is required for the 150 MHz 16-bit SDRAM interface. Place the 32.768 kHz crystal within 5 mm of the XIN32/XOUT32 pins and guard it with a ground ring to reduce RTC jitter. Estimated: SDRAM trace length matching tolerance is derived from the SAM E70 datasheet section on EBI timing.
Do not enable both Ethernet and HS USB PHYs simultaneously without verifying PCB stackup and decoupling; both high-speed interfaces share analog supply rails and require a solid ground plane to prevent crosstalk. Ensure the NRST pin has a 10 kohm pull-up and a 100 nF capacitor to ground per the reference design - missing reset components cause intermittent boot failures. Avoid routing any high-frequency signal (SDRAM, USB) across the BGA diagonally, as the via stubs degrade signal integrity at 150 MHz. Always program the GPNVM bits for Flash plane selection during initial firmware bring-up to avoid boot-mode lockouts.
Compliance Information
RoHS and REACH compliant per Microchip product page. Not AEC-Q100 qualified - the SAM E70 family targets industrial and consumer markets, not automotive. For AEC-Q100 alternatives consult Microchip's automotive MCU families.
