SAMB11 IC Ultra-low Power BLE 4.1 SoC in QFN Package

The SAMB11 is an ultra-low-power Bluetooth SMART (BLE 4.1) System on a Chip with Integrated MCU, Transceiver, Modem, MAC, PA, TR Switch, and Power Management Unit (PMU). It is a standalone Cortex®-M0 applications processor with embedded Flash memory and BLE connectivity. The SAM B11 has 48 pins which are described below.

 

SAMB11 Pinout Configuration

Pin Number	Pin Name	Description
1	VDD_VCO	RF Supply 1.2V
2	VDD_RF	RF Supply 1.2V
3	RFIO	RX input and TX output
4	VDD_AMS	AMS Supply 1.2V
5	LP_GPIO_0	SWD Clock
6	LP_GPIO_1	SWD I/O
7	LP_GPIO_2	UART1 RXD
8	LP_GPIO_3	UART1 TXD
9	LP_GPIO_4	UART1 CTS
10	LP_GPIO_22	GPIO
11	LP_GPIO_23	GPIO
12	LP_GPIO_5	UART1 RTS
13	LP_GPIO_6	UART2 RXD
14	LP_GPIO_7	UART2 TXD
15	LP_GPIO_8	I2C0 SDA
16	LP_GPIO_9	I2C0 SCL
17	LP_GPIO_10	SPI0 SCK
18	LP_GPIO_11	SPI0 MOSI
19	LP_GPIO_12	SPI0 SSN
20	LP_GPIO_13	SPI0 MISO
21	VSW	DC/DC Converter Switching Node
22	VBATT_BUCK	DC/DC Converter Supply and General Battery Connection
23	VDDC_PD4	DC/DC Converter 1.2V output and feedback node
24	GPIO_MS1	Configurable to be a GPIO Mixed Signal only (ADC interface)
25	GPIO_MS2	Configurable to be a GPIO Mixed Signal only (ADC interface)
26	CHIP_EN	Master Enable for chip
27	GPIO_MS3	Configurable to be a GPIO Mixed Signal only (ADC interface)
28	GPIO_MS4	Configurable to be a GPIO Mixed Signal only (ADC interface)
29	LP_LDO_OUT_1P2	Low Power LDO output (connect to 1µF decoupling cap)
30	RTC_CLK_P	RTC terminal + / 32.768kHz XTAL +
31	RTC_CLK_N	RTC terminal - / 32.768kHz XTAL +
32	AO_TEST_MODE	Test Mode Selection (SCAN ATE) /GND for normal operation
33	AO_GPIO_0	Always On External Wakeup
34	AO_GPIO_1	Always On External Wakeup
35	AO_GPIO_2	Always On External Wakeup
36	AO_GPIO_14	UART2 CTS
37	AO_GPIO_15	UART2 RTS
38	AO_GPIO_16	GPIO
39	VDDIO	I/O Supply can be less than or equal to VBATT_BUCK
40	LP_GPIO_17	GPIO
41	LP_GPIO_18	GPIO
42	LP_GPIO_19	GPIO
43	LP_GPIO_20	GPIO
44	XO_P	XO Crystal +
45	XO_N	XO Crystal -
46	TPP	Test MUX + output
47	TPN	Test MUX – output
48	VDD_SXDIG	RF Supply 1.2V

 

Features & Specifications

• 2.4GHz transceiver and Modem with programmable TX and RX
• Integrated T/R switch
• Single wire antenna connection
• ARM® Cortex®-M0 32-bit processor with SWD interface, BOD, Watchdog TImer, and DMA
• Inbuilt 128KB RAM, 128KB ROM, and 256K Flash Memory
• Supports AES-128, and SHA-256 Hardware Security Accelerators
• 23 digital and 4 mixed-signal GPIOs with 96kΩ internal programmable pull-up or down resistors and retention capability.
• It offers 2x SPI Master/Slave, 2x I2C Master/Slave, and 1x I2C Slave, 2x UART, Three-axis quadrature decoder, 4x Pulse Width Modulation (PWM), three General Purpose Timers, and one Wakeup Timer, and a 4-channel 11-bit ADC
• Integrated 26MHz RC oscillator, supports 26MHz crystal oscillator, Integrated 2MHz sleep RC oscillator, 32.768kHz RTC crystal oscillator
• It offers 1.1µA sleep current (8K RAM retention and RTC running), 3.0mA peak TX current (0dBm, 3.6V), and 4.2mA peak RX current (3.6V, -93dBm sensitivity)
• Integrated Power Management with 2.3 to 4.3V battery voltage range, and Fully integrated Buck DC/DC converter
• Bluetooth SIG Certification the ATSAMB11 uses the ATBTLC1000 as its Bluetooth controller and is certified under the ATBTLC1000.

 

Note: More technical specifications about SAMB11 IC can be found in the SAMB11 IC datasheet attached at the end of this page.

 

General Description of SAMB11 IC

The SAMB11 is an ultra-low-power Bluetooth® SMART (BLE 4.1) System on a Chip with Integrated MCU, Transceiver, Modem, MAC, PA, TR Switch, and Power Management Unit (PMU). It is a standalone Cortex®-M0 applications processor with embedded Flash memory and BLE connectivity. The qualified Bluetooth Smart protocol stack is stored in dedicated ROM, the firmware includes L2CAP service layer protocols, Security Manager, Attribute protocol (ATT), Generic Attribute Profile (GATT), and the Generic Access Profile (GAP). Additionally, application profiles such as Proximity, Thermometer, Heart Rate, Blood Pressure, and many others are supported and included in the protocol stack.

 

The SAM B11 family provides a cost-effective solution for many Bluetooth Smart-based applications by integrating the Bluetooth Low Energy Radio and Baseband with an ARM® Cortex® M0-based microcontroller. The need for very few external components minimizes the total system solution cost. The easiest way to start working with this IC is to purchase a prebuilt module from microchip.

 

Note: More technical information about the SAMB11 IC can be found in the datasheet linked at the bottom of this page.

 

SAMB11 Block Diagram

The block diagram for the SAMB11 IC is shown below, with this block diagram you can clearly see all the different components of the SAMB11 IC.

 

Power Architecture of SAMB11 IC

SAMB11 uses an internal power architecture to eliminate the need for external regulators and reduce the number of off-chip components. The integrated power management block includes a DC/DC buck converter and separate Low Dropout (LDO) regulators for different power domains. The DC-DC buck converter converts battery voltage to a lower internal voltage for the different circuit blocks and does this with high efficiency. The DC-DC requires three external components for proper operation (two inductors L 4.7µH and 9.1nH, and one capacitor C 4.7µF).

 

Applications

• Wearable devices with health and fitness sensors
• Smart appliances
• Security and proximity tags
• Home automation
• Smartphone accessories
• HID keyboards, mice, and remote controls

 

2D Model and Dimensions

The 2D model for the IC is shown below, if you are designing a compact PCB with this, the measurements below can come in handy, more info on the dimension can be found in the datasheet of the product linked in the description.