The SAM E54 Curiosity Ultra Development Board (DM320210) includes an integrated programmer and debugger,
hence additional hardware is not required to get started. Users can add functionality through MikroElectronika
mikroBUS™ Click™ adapter boards, add Ethernet connectivity with the Microchip PHY Daughter Board, add Wi-Fi
connectivity capability using the Microchip expansions boards, and add audio input and output capability with
Microchip audio daughter boards.
With or without expansion boards, the SAM E54 Curiosity Ultra Development Board provides the freedom to develop
for a variety of applications, including Bluetooth® Audio, CAN, Graphics User Interface (GUI), Internet of Things (IoT),
robotics development, and proof-of-concept (PoC) designs.
The following are features of the SAM E54 Curiosity Ultra development board
• ATSAME54P20A, 120 MHz, 1MB Flash, 256 KB RAM
• On-Board Debugger (EDBG)
– Real time Programming and Debugging
– Virtual COM port (VCOM)
– Data Gateway Interface (DGI)
• One mikroBUS interfaces
• One X32 audio interfaces supporting Bluetooth and audio
• Ethernet interface
• Graphics interface
• Xplained Pro extension compatible interface
• CAN interface
• User buttons
• User LEDs
• 8-MB QSPI memory
• Arduino Uno R3 compatible interface
SAM E54
Kit Contents
The development board kit contains one SAM E54 Curiosity Ultra development board (DM320210).
Note: If you are missing any part of the kit, contact a Microchip sales office for assistance. A list of Microchip offices
for sales and service is provided on the last page of this document.
The Microchip Website.................................................................................................................................32
The following diagram shows the power system on the SAM E54 Curiosity Ultra development board. The
development board has many power sub systems that allow it to accept up to 16V. The barrel jack is a 2.1 mm center
positive connector. The power in can also be connected through the Arduino header (Vin), and it supplies power
before the reverse voltage protection.
The SAM E54 Curiosity Ultra development board implements several Curiosity Pro standards, such as extension
headers and connectors. Curiosity Pro is an evaluation platform that provides a full Microchip microcontroller
experience. The platform consists of a series of Microcontroller (MCU) boards and extension boards that are
integrated with the Microchip MPLAB® X IDE that supports data streaming. The Curiosity Pro MCU boards support a
wide range of Curiosity Pro extension boards, such as audio DACs and codecs, Ethernet PHYs, graphics cards, and
mikroBUS that are connected through a set of standardized headers and connectors. Each extension board has an
identification (ID) chip to uniquely identify which boards are connected to a Xplained Pro MCU board. This
information is given in the relevant user guides, application notes, data sheets, and the example code examples
through the MPLAB X IDE.
The development board contains a Microchip Embedded Debugger (EDBG) for on-board debugging. The EDBG is a
complex USB device, which is based on the following interfaces:
• Debugger
• Virtual COM Port
• Data Gateway Interface (DGI)
Together with the Microchip MPLAB X IDE, the EDBG debugger interface can program and debug the
ATSAME54P20A. On the development board, the SWD interface is connected between the EDBG and the
ATSAME54P20A.
The Virtual COM Port is connected to a UART on the ATSAME54P20A and provides an easy way to communicate
with the target application through the terminal software. It offers variable baud rate, parity, and Stop bit settings. The
settings on the ATSAME54P20A must match with the settings given in the terminal software.
Note: If not set automatically, Data Terminal Ready (DTR) must be set in the terminal software.
The DGI consists of several physical interfaces for communication with the host computer. Communication over the
interfaces is bidirectional. It can be used to send events and values from the ATSAME54P20A, or as a generic printfstyle data channel. Traffic over the interfaces can be timestamped on the EDBG for accurate tracing of events. Note
that timestamping imposes an overhead that reduces maximal throughput. The Data Visualizer is used to send and
receive data through DGI.
The EDBG controls two LEDs on the development board: a power LED and a status LED. The table below provides
how the LEDs are controlled in different operation modes.
Table 1-2. EDBG LED Control
SAM E54
SAM E54 Curiosity Ultra Development Board ...
Operation ModePower LEDStatus LED
Normal operationThe power LED is lit when power is applied
to the board.
Bootloader mode (Idle
mode)
Bootloader mode
(firmware upgrade)
For additional information on EDBG, refer to the EDBG User Guide.
Hardware Identification System
All Curiosity Pro-compatible extension boards have an Microchip ATSHA204 CryptoAuthentication™ chip mounted.
This chip contains information that identifies the extension with its name and data. When an Xplained Pro extension
is connected to a Curiosity Pro MCU board, the information is read and sent to the MPLAB X IDE. The Microchip kits
extension, installed with MPLAB X IDE, provides relevant information, such as code examples, and links to relevant
documents. The following table provides the data fields stored in the ID chip with content examples.
The SAM E54 has two ways of supporting I2S audio applications: Host mode and Slave mode. This refers to which
mode generates the I2S Master clock, and it also known as a reference clock. The following figure shows the
relationship between the devices. On this board there is a jumper to select between the two modes, Master mode
and Slave mode. The usable modes also depend on which codec it supports, as not all codecs can support both the
modes.
Figure 1-4. Audio Clock Selection
SAM E54
SAM E54 Curiosity Ultra Development Board ...
1.5.1 Pinout
The following table describes the pinout for the X32 Audio Interface. See the 2.1 Schematics for more information.
10Audio WS/LRCLKAudio Word Select/Left Right ClockI2S
11Audio InAudio into MCU, out from codacI2S
12Audio CLKAudio clockI2S
13Audio outAudio out of MCU, into codac/DACI2S
14REFCLK/MCKReference clock #1REFCLK
15GNDGroundPower
16GNDGroundPower
17NCLegacy hold over-
18+3.3vVDDPower
19NCLegacy hold over-
20+5.0vVDDPower
21 (1)NCNC
22 (2)ADC/Card ID pinAnalog-to-Digital Converter to read voltage on the daughter card1-wire
23 (3)NCNC
24 (4)NCNC
25 (5)NCNC
26 (6)NCNC
27 (7)NCNC
28 (8)NCNC
29 (9)NCNC
30 (10)NCNC
31 (11)GNDGroundPower
32 (12)GNDGroundPower
1.5.2 X32 Port Connections
The following table provides the port and connection details of the X32 audio interface. The I2S signals listed are the
Main signals, and both the signals are available at each interface.
The mikroBUS interface enables using additional click boards. For more information, and to see the boards that can
be used with this development board follow the link: https://www.mikroe.com/.
Note: Some of these pins are shared with the X32 audio interface. Due to location, an X32 audio card cannot be
used simultaneously as the click interface due to mechanical interference.
SAM E54
SAM E54 Curiosity Ultra Development Board ...
InterfaceX32
ResetPC18
REFCLKPA08/PA17 (refer to Figure 1-4 Audio Clock Selection)
All Xplained Ultra and Curiosity Ultra Kits have many dual-row, 20-pin, and 100 mil extension headers. Xplained Ultra
and Curiosity Ultra MCU boards have male headers, while Xplained Ultra extensions have their female counterparts
as shown in the following figure.
Note: All pins are not always connected.
The extension headers can be used to connect a variety of Xplained Pro extensions to Xplained Ultra and Curiosity
Ultra MCU boards, or to access the pins of the target MCU on Xplained Ultra MCU or Curiosity Ultra boards directly.
Figure 1-5. Extension Headers
SAM E54
All connected pins follow the defined pinout description as shown in the following table.
Table 1-6. Xplained Pro Standard Extension Header
Pin number NameDescription
1IDCommunication line to the ID chip on an extension board
2GNDGround
3ADC(+)Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC), alternatively positive part of differential ADC
4ADC(-)Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC), alternatively negative part of differential ADC
5GPIO1General purpose I/O
6GPIO2General purpose I/O
7PWM(+)Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM), alternatively positive part of differential PWM
8PWM(-)Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM), alternatively negative part of differential PWM
9IRQ/INT/GPIOInterrupt request line and general purpose I/O
10SPI SS B/GPIO SPI Slave Select or general purpose I/O
11I2C SDAData line for I2C interface. Always implemented, bus type
12I2C SCLClock line for I2C interface. Always implemented, bus type
13UART RXReceiver line of target device UART
14UART TXTransmitter line of target device UART
15SPI SS A/GPIO SPI Slave Select or general purpose I/O
16SPI MOSIMaster Out Slave In line of serial peripheral interface. Always implemented, bus
type.
17SPI MISOMaster In Slave Out line of serial peripheral interface. Always implemented, bus
18SPI SCKClock for serial peripheral interface. Always implemented, bus type.
19GNDGround
SAM E54
20V
CC
Power for extension boards (3.3V)
1.8 Graphics Connectors or GFX Card Interface
The SAM E54 Curiosity Ultra development kit is designed to have a modular graphics interface. This interface
enables the use of several different graphics cards, which allows for expandability and different use cases. A 24-bit
pass though card is included with the kit, this board passes parallel data through, and can be configured to an 8-bit
8080 MCU mode. This card also provides access to the ADC for resistive touch screen or self-drive PTC touch
screens. Refer to the following table for the pin description.
Table 1-7. Graphics Interface Pinout
Pin Number NameDescription
1GNDGround
2GNDGround
3MCLRMaster Clear Reset controlled by the debuggers. Allows for a complete
system reboot.
4IRQ1 (LCD Touch)Interrupt request line for cap touch device
55.0V V
6IRQ2 (Q Touch)Interrupt request line for Q touch devices
7LCDENLCD Data Enable
8IRQ3 (Display Controllers) Interrupt request line for external display controllers
CC
5.0V
9LCDHSYNC/NCS3LCD Horizontal Sync or GPIO
10IRQ4 (Resistive touch)Interrupt request line for resistive touch controllers
11LCDVSYNC/nWELCD Vertical Sync, CS, or GPIO
125.0v V
13LCDPCK/nRDLCD pixel clock, Write Enable or GPIO
14I2C SDAData line for I2C interface. Always implemented, bus type.
15LCD D0LCD Data bit 0
16I2C SCLClock line for I2C interface. Always implemented, bus type.
17LCD D1LCD Data bit 1
18SPI SCKClock for serial peripheral interface. Always implemented, bus type.
19LCD D2LCD Data bit 2
20SPI MOSIMaster Out Slave In line of serial peripheral interface.
21LCD D3LCD Data bit 3
22SPI MISOMaster In Slave Out line of serial peripheral interface.
The SAM E54 Curiosity Ultra development kit has a modular Ethernet PHY system that enables different PHYs to be
plugged into the board. This interface is setup to use a Reduced Media-Independent Interface (RMII) and a SPI bus
interface with GPIO. The following figure illustrates the Ethernet PHY header configuration.
16 (4)MOSIMaster Out Slave In line of serial peripheral interface
17 (5)MISOMaster In Slave Out line of serial peripheral interface
18 (6)GNDGround
19 (7)NCNo Connect
20 (8)REFCLK (in)Reference Clock input (50 MHz)
21 (9)GNDGND
22 (10)+3.3v V
23 (11)CSChip Select for serial peripheral interface
24 (12)SCKClock for serial peripheral interface
25 -30EGNDShield Ground
DD
1.10 AT24MAC402 Serial EEPROM
The development board has an on-board 2-Kbit I2C serial EEPROM which is available for user applications. This
serial EEPROM has a unique EUI-48, and 128-bit serial number. The unique number can be seen in the Microchip
MPLAB Kit window or Atmel Studio Xplained window after the kit has been plugged into the PC.
Users can change the device address using the solder pads on the board, but all address bits have been defaulted to
one. Refer to schematics for additional information. For additional usage information of on this part, refer to the
“AT24MAC402 and AT24MAC602 Data Sheet”, which is available for download from the Hardware Features, or from
the following location: http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/Atmel-8807-SEEPROM-
This development kit has an on-board external I2C-based temperature sensor for application use. The external
sensor is a MCP8908. The temperature sensor has a user programmable temperature alert output and a user
programmable temperature limits with a typical accuracy of +/-0.25°C.
This part has an I2C address of 0x18h. For additional information, refer to the “±0.5°C Maximum Accuracy Digital
Temperature Sensor” document,which is available for download from the following location: http://
The starter kit provides the following two push button switches: User switch and Reset switch. The push button
switches do not have any debounce circuitry and require the use of internal pull-up resistors. This enables the user to
investigate the software debounce techniques. When Idle, the switches are pulled high (+3.3V,) and when pressed,
they are grounded.
Microchip provides online support via our website at http://www.microchip.com/. This website is used to make files
and information easily available to customers. Some of the content available includes:
• Product Support – Data sheets and errata, application notes and sample programs, design resources, user’s
guides and hardware support documents, latest software releases and archived software
• General Technical Support – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), technical support requests, online
discussion groups, Microchip design partner program member listing
• Business of Microchip – Product selector and ordering guides, latest Microchip press releases, listing of
seminars and events, listings of Microchip sales offices, distributors and factory representatives
Product Change Notification Service
Microchip’s product change notification service helps keep customers current on Microchip products. Subscribers will
receive email notification whenever there are changes, updates, revisions or errata related to a specified product
family or development tool of interest.
To register, go to http://www.microchip.com/pcn and follow the registration instructions.
Customer Support
Users of Microchip products can receive assistance through several channels:
• Distributor or Representative
• Local Sales Office
• Embedded Solutions Engineer (ESE)
• Technical Support
Customers should contact their distributor, representative or ESE for support. Local sales offices are also available to
help customers. A listing of sales offices and locations is included in this document.
Technical support is available through the web site at: http://www.microchip.com/support
To order or obtain information, e.g., on pricing or delivery, refer to the factory or the listed sales office.
Device:Device A, Feature A, (Package A) Device B, Feature B, (Package B)
Tape & Reel Option:Blank= Tube
T= Tape & Reel
Temperature Range:I= -40°C to +85°C (Industrial)
E= -40°C to +125°C (Extended)
Package:AA= Package AA
BB= Package BB
Examples:
• MCPXXXXXAT-E/AA: Tape and Reel, Extended temperature, XAA package
• MCPXXXXXBT-E/BB: Tape and Reel Extended temperature, XBB package
Note:
1.Tape and Reel identifier only appears in the catalog part number description. This identifier is used for ordering
purposes and is not printed on the device package. Check with your Microchip Sales Office for package
availability with the Tape and Reel option.
2.Small form-factor packaging options may be available. Please check http://www.microchip.com/packaging for
small-form factor package availability, or contact your local Sales Office.
Microchip Devices Code Protection Feature
Note the following details of the code protection feature on Microchip devices:
• Microchip products meet the specification contained in their particular Microchip Data Sheet.
• Microchip believes that its family of products is one of the most secure families of its kind on the market today,
when used in the intended manner and under normal conditions.
• There are dishonest and possibly illegal methods used to breach the code protection feature. All of these
methods, to our knowledge, require using the Microchip products in a manner outside the operating
specifications contained in Microchip’s Data Sheets. Most likely, the person doing so is engaged in theft of
intellectual property.
• Microchip is willing to work with the customer who is concerned about the integrity of their code.
• Neither Microchip nor any other semiconductor manufacturer can guarantee the security of their code. Code
protection does not mean that we are guaranteeing the product as “unbreakable.”
Code protection is constantly evolving. We at Microchip are committed to continuously improving the code protection
features of our products. Attempts to break Microchip’s code protection feature may be a violation of the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act. If such acts allow unauthorized access to your software or other copyrighted work, you
may have a right to sue for relief under that Act.
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