5
AT91X40 Series
1354D–ATARM–08/02
Architectural
Overview
The AT91X40 Series Microcontrollers integrate an ARM7TDMI with its embedded ICE
interface, memories and peripherals. The series’ architecture consists of two main
buses, the Advanced System Bus (ASB) and the Advanced Peripheral Bus (APB).
Designed for maximum performance and controlled by the memory controller, the ASB
interfaces the ARM7TDMI processor with the on-chip 32-bit memories, the External Bus
Interface (EBI) and the AMBA™ Bridge. The AMBA Bridge drives the APB, which is
designed for accesses to on-chip peripherals and optimized for low-power consumption.
The AT91X40 Series Microcontrollers implement the ICE port of the ARM7TDMI proces-
sor on dedicated pins, offering a complete, low-cost and easy-to-use debug solution for
target debugging.
Memories The AT91X40 Series Microcontrollers embed up to 256K bytes of internal SRAM, and
up to 128K bytes of ROM. The internal memories are directly connected to the 32-bit
data bus and are single-cycle accessible. This provides maximum performance of 0.9
MIPS/MHz by using the ARM instruction set of the processor, minimizing system power
consumption and improving the performance of separate memory solutions.
The AT91X40 Series Microcontrollers feature an External Bus Interface (EBI), which
enables connection of external memories and application-specific peripherals. The EBI
supports 8- or 16-bit devices and can use two 8-bit devices to emulate a single 16-bit
device. The EBI implements the early read protocol, enabling faster memory accesses
than standard memory interfaces.
Peripherals The AT91X40 Series Microcontrollers integrate several peripherals, which are classified
as system or user peripherals. All on-chip peripherals are 32-bit accessible by the
AMBA Bridge, and can be programmed with a minimum number of instructions. The
peripheral register set is composed of control, mode, data, status and enable/dis-
able/status registers.
An on-chip Peripheral Data Controller (PDC) transfers data between the on-chip
USARTs and on- and off-chip memories address space without processor intervention.
Most importantly, the PDC removes the processor interrupt handling overhead, making
it possible to transfer up to 64K continuous bytes without reprogramming the start
address, thus increasing the performance of the microcontroller, and reducing the power
consumption.
System Peripherals The External Bus Interface (EBI) controls the external memory or devices via an 8-bit or
16-bit data bus, and is programmed through the Advanced Peripheral Bus (APB). Each
chip select line has its own programming register.
The Power Saving (PS) module implements the Idle Mode (ARM7TDMI core clock
stopped until the next interrupt) and enables the user to adapt the power consumption of
the microcontroller to application requirements (independent peripheral clock control).
The Advanced Interrupt Controller (AIC) controls the internal sources from the internal
peripherals and the four external interrupt lines (including the FIQ) to provide an inter-
rupt and/or fast interrupt request to the ARM7TDMI. It integrates an 8-level priority
controller, and, using the Auto-vectoring feature, reduces the interrupt latency time.
The Parallel Input/Output Controller (PIO) controls up to 32 I/O lines. It enables the user
to select specific pins for on-chip peripheral input/output functions, and general-purpose
input/output signal pins. The PIO controller can be programmed to detect an interrupt on
a signal change from each line.