Microchip Technology SAMC21N Xplained Pro User Manual
SAMC21N Xplained Pro
SAMC21N Xplained Pro
Preface
The SAMC21N Xplained Pro evaluation kit is a hardware platform to evaluate ATSAMC21N18A
microcontroller.
Supported by the Atmel Studio integrated development platform, the kit provides easy access to the
features of the ATSAMC21N18A and explains how to integrate the device in a custom design.
The Xplained Pro MCU series evaluation kits include an on-board embedded debugger, and no external
tools are necessary to program or debug the ATSAMC21N18A.
The Xplained Pro extension series evaluation kits offers additional peripherals to extend the features of
the board and ease the development of custom designs.
© 2017 Microchip Technology Inc.
User Guide
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SAMC21N Xplained Pro
Table of Contents
Preface............................................................................................................................ 1
1. Introduction................................................................................................................4
1.1. Features....................................................................................................................................... 4
1.2. Kit Overview................................................................................................................................. 4
2. Getting Started.......................................................................................................... 6
2.1. Xplained Pro Quick Start.............................................................................................................. 6
2.2. Design Documentation and Relevant Links................................................................................. 6
3. Xplained Pro.............................................................................................................. 8
3.1. Embedded Debugger................................................................................................................... 8
3.2. Hardware Identification System....................................................................................................9
3.3. Power Sources............................................................................................................................. 9
3.4. Xplained Pro Headers and Connectors......................................................................................10
4. Hardware Users Guide............................................................................................ 12
4.1. Power Distribution...................................................................................................................... 12
4.2. Connectors.................................................................................................................................12
4.3. Peripherals................................................................................................................................. 20
4.4. Kit Modifications......................................................................................................................... 23
4.5. Embedded Debugger Implementation........................................................................................28
5. Appendix..................................................................................................................31
5.1. Getting Started with IAR.............................................................................................................31
5.2. Connecting a SAM-ICE to an Xplained Pro Board..................................................................... 34
6. Hardware Revision History and Known Issues........................................................36
6.1. Identifying Product ID and Revision........................................................................................... 36
6.2. Revision......................................................................................................................................36
7. Document Revision History..................................................................................... 37
The Microchip Web Site................................................................................................ 38
Customer Change Notification Service..........................................................................38
Customer Support......................................................................................................... 38
Microchip Devices Code Protection Feature................................................................. 38
Legal Notice...................................................................................................................39
Trademarks................................................................................................................... 39
Quality Management System Certified by DNV.............................................................40
© 2017 Microchip Technology Inc.
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SAMC21N Xplained Pro
Worldwide Sales and Service........................................................................................41
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1. Introduction
1.1 Features
• ATSAMC21N18A microcontroller
• Embedded Debugger
– USB interface
– Auto-ID for board identification in Atmel Studio
– One yellow status LED
– One green board power LED
– Symbolic debug of complex data types icluding scope information
– Programming and debugging of on-board SAMC21N through Serial Wire Debug (SWD)
– Data Gateway Interface: SPI, I2C, four GPIOs
– Virtual COM port (CDC)
– Control of on-board power switch to protect connected extensions against high voltage
• Digital I/O
– Two mechanical buttons (user and reset button)
– One QTouch® button
– One yellow user LED
– Three Xplained Pro extension headers
• Two selectable target voltages
– 3.3V
– 5.0V
• Level converters between target section and EDBG section
• 32.768kHz crystal mounted
• 16MHz crystal footprint (not mounted)
• 2 CAN transceivers
• 1 LIN transceiver
– Wake-up button
– Master node pull-up enable
– Alternate LIN power jumper
• DAC output connector
• Analog voltage reference connector with filtered power supply
– SDADC VREF
– ADC/DAC VREF
• Supported with application examples in Atmel Software Framework
SAMC21N Xplained Pro
1.2 Kit Overview
The SAMC21N Xplained Pro evaluation kit is a hardware platform to evaluate the ATSAMC21N18A.
The kit offers a set of features that enables the ATSAMC21N18A user to get started with the SAM C
peripherals right away and to get an understanding of how to integrate the device in their own design.
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User Guide
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Figure 1-1. SAMC21N Xplained Pro Evaluation Kit Overview
SAMC21N Xplained Pro
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2. Getting Started
2.1 Xplained Pro Quick Start
Steps to start exploring the Atmel Xplained Pro platform:
1. Download Atmel Studio.
2. Launch Atmel Studio.
3. Connect a USB cable (Standard-A to Micro-B or Micro-AB) between the PC and the DEBUG USB
port on the kit.
SAMC21N Xplained Pro
When the Xplained Pro MCU kit is connected to your computer for the first time, the operating system will
perform a driver software installation. The driver file supports both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Microsoft
Windows® XP, Windows Vista®, Windows 7, and Windows 8.
Once the Xplained Pro MCU board is powered the green power LED will be lit and Atmel Studio will auto
detect which Xplained Pro MCU and extension boards are connected. Atmel Studio will present relevant
information like datasheets and kit documentation. The kit landing page in Atmel Studio also has the
option to launch Atmel Software Framework (ASF) example applications for the kit. The SAMC21N device
is programmed and debugged by the on-board Embedded Debugger and therefore no external
programmer or debugger tool is needed.
2.2 Design Documentation and Relevant Links
The following list contains links to the most relevant documents and software for SAMC21N Xplained Pro:
• Xplained products - Xplained evaluation kits are a series of easy-to-use evaluation kits for
Microchip microcontrollers and other Microchip products.
– Xplained Nano: used for low pin-count devices and provides a minimalistic solution with
access to all I/O pins of the target microcontroller.
– Xplained Mini: used for medium pin-count devices and adds Arduino Uno compatible header
footprint and a prototyping area.
– Xplained Pro: used for medium to high pin-count devices that features advanced debugging
and standardized extensions for peripheral functions.
®
Note: All the above kits have on-board programmers/debuggers, which creates a set of low-cost
boards for evaluation and demonstration of features and capabilities of different Microchip products.
• Atmel Studio - Free IDE for the development of C/C++ and assembler code for microcontrollers.
• Microchip sample store - Microchip sample store where you can order samples of devices.
• EDBG User Guide - User guide containing more information about the on-board Embedded
Debugger.
• IAR Embedded Workbench® for ARM® - This is a commercial C/C++ compiler that is available for
ARM®. There is a 30 day evaluation version as well as a code size limited kick-start version
available from their website. The code size limit is 16KB for devices with M0, M0+, and M1 cores
and 32KB for devices with other cores.
• Data Visualizer - Data Visualizer is a program used for processing and visualizing data. The Data
Visualizer can receive data from various sources such as the Embedded Debugger Data Gateway
Interface found on Xplained Pro boards and COM Ports.
• Hardware Users Guide in PDF format - PDF version of this User Guide.
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SAMC21N Xplained Pro
• Design Documentation - Package containing CAD source, schematics, BOM, assembly drawings,
3D plots, layer plots etc
• SAMC21N Xplained Pro in Microchip website
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3. Xplained Pro
Xplained Pro is an evaluation platform that provides the full microcontroller experience. The platform
consists of a series of Microcontroller (MCU) boards and extension boards, which are integrated with
Atmel Studio, have Atmel Software Framework (ASF)/Atmel START drivers and demo code, support data
streaming, and more. Xplained Pro MCU boards support a wide range of Xplained Pro extension boards,
which 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 an Xplained Pro MCU board.
This information is used to present relevant user guides, application notes, data sheets, and example
code through Atmel Studio.
3.1 Embedded Debugger
The SAMC21N Xplained Pro contains the Embedded Debugger (EDBG) for on-board debugging. The
EDBG is a composite USB device of three interfaces; a debugger, Virtual COM Port, and a Data Gateway
Interface (DGI).
Together with Atmel Studio, the EDBG debugger interface can program and debug the ATSAMC21N18A.
On SAMC21N Xplained Pro, the SWD interface is connected between the EDBG and the
ATSAMC21N18A.
SAMC21N Xplained Pro
The Virtual COM Port is connected to a UART on the ATSAMC21N18A and provides an easy way to
communicate with the target application through terminal software. It offers variable baud rate, parity, and
stop bit settings. Note that the settings on the ATSAMC21N18A must match the settings given in the
terminal software.
Info: The Virtual COM Port in the EDBG requires the terminal software to set the data terminal
ready (DTR) signal to enable the UART pins connected to the ATSAMC21N18A. If the DTR
signal is not enabled the UART pins on the EDBG is kept in high-z (tristate) rendering the COM
port unusable. The DTR signal is set automatically by some terminal software, but it may have
to be manually enabled in your terminal.
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
ATSAMC21N18A or as a generic printf-style data channel. Traffic over the interfaces can be timestamped
on the EDBG for more accurate tracing of events. Note that timestamping imposes an overhead that
reduces maximal throughput. Data Visualizer is used to send and receive data through DGI.
The EDBG controls two LEDs on SAMC21N Xplained Pro; a power LED and a status LED. The table
below shows how the LEDs are controlled in different operation modes.
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SAMC21N Xplained Pro
Table 3-1. EDBG LED Control
Operation Mode Power LED Status LED
Normal operation Power LED is lit when power is
applied to the board.
Bootloader mode (idle) The power LED and the status LED blinks simultaneously.
Bootloader mode (firmware
upgrade)
For further documentation on the EDBG, see the EDBG User Guide.
The power LED and the status LED blinks in an alternating pattern.
3.2 Hardware Identification System
All Xplained Pro compatible extension boards have an ATSHA204A CryptoAuthentication chip mounted.
This chip contains information that identifies the extension with its name and some extra data. When an
Xplained Pro extension is connected to an Xplained Pro MCU board the information is read and sent to
Atmel Studio. The Atmel Kits extension, installed with Atmel Studio, will give relevant information, code
examples, and links to relevant documents. The table below shows the data fields stored in the ID chip
with example content.
Table 3-2. Xplained Pro ID Chip Content
Data field Data type Example content
Manufacturer ASCII string Atmel'\0'
Activity indicator, LED flashes
when any communication
happens to the EDBG.
Product Name ASCII string Segment LCD1 Xplained Pro'\0'
Product Revision ASCII string 02'\0'
Product Serial Number ASCII string 1774020200000010’\0’
Minimum Voltage [mV] uint16_t 3000
Maximum Voltage [mV] uint16_t 3600
Maximum Current [mA] uint16_t 30
3.3 Power Sources
The SAMC21N Xplained Pro kit can be powered by several power sources as listed in the table below.
Table 3-3. Power Sources for SAMC21N Xplained Pro
Power Input Voltage Requirements Current Requirements Connector Marking
External power 5V ±2% (±100mV) for
USB host operation.
4.3V to 5.5V if USB host
operation is not
required.
Recommended
minimum is 1A to be
able to provide enough
current for connected
USB devices and the
board itself.
Recommended
PWR
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SAMC21N Xplained Pro
Power Input Voltage Requirements Current Requirements Connector Marking
maximum is 2A due to
the input protection
maximum current
specification.
Embedded debugger
USB
The kit will automatically detect which power sources are available and choose which one to use
according to the following priority:
1. External power.
2. Embedded Debugger USB.
Info: External power is required when 500mA from a USB connector is not enough to power
the board with possible extension boards.
4.4V to 5.25V (according
to USB spec.)
3.4 Xplained Pro Headers and Connectors
3.4.1 Xplained Pro Standard Extension Header
All Xplained Pro kits have one or more dual row, 20-pin, 100mil extension header. Xplained Pro MCU
boards have male headers, while Xplained Pro extensions have their female counterparts. Note that all
pins are not always connected. All connected pins follow the defined pin-out description in the table
below.
500mA (according to
USB spec.)
DEBUG USB
The extension headers can be used to connect a variety of Xplained Pro extensions to Xplained Pro MCU
boards or to access the pins of the target MCU on Xplained Pro MCU boards directly.
Table 3-4. Xplained Pro Standard Extension Header
Pin Number Name Description
1 ID Communication line to the ID chip on an extension board
2 GND Ground
3 ADC(+) Analog to digital converter, alternatively positive part of differential
ADC
4 ADC(-) Analog to digital converter, alternatively negative part of differential
ADC
5 GPIO1 General purpose I/O
6 GPIO2 General purpose I/O
7 PWM(+) Pulse width modulation, alternatively positive part of differential
PWM
8 PWM(-) Pulse width modulation, alternatively negative part of differential
PWM
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SAMC21N Xplained Pro
Pin Number Name Description
9 IRQ/GPIO Interrupt request line and/or general purpose I/O
10 SPI_SS_B/
GPIO
11 I2C_SDA Data line for I2C interface. Always implemented, bus type.
12 I2C_SCL Clock line for I2C interface. Always implemented, bus type.
13 UART_RX Receiver line of target device UART
14 UART_TX Transmitter line of target device UART
15 SPI_SS_A Slave select for SPI. Should preferably be unique.
16 SPI_MOSI Master out slave in line of serial peripheral interface. Always
17 SPI_MISO Master in slave out line of serial peripheral interface. Always
18 SPI_SCK Clock for serial peripheral interface. Always implemented, bus type.
19 GND Ground
20 VCC Power for extension board
3.4.2 Xplained Pro Power Header
The power header can be used to connect external power to the SAMC21N Xplained Pro kit. The kit will
automatically detect and switch to any external power if supplied. The power header can also be used as
supply for external peripherals or extension boards. Care must be taken not to exceed the total current
limitation of the on-board regulator when using the 3.3V or 5.0V pin.
Slave select for SPI and/or general purpose I/O
implemented, bus type.
implemented, bus type.
Table 3-5. Xplained Pro Power Header
Pin Number Pin Name Description
1 VEXT_P5V0 External 5V input
2 GND Ground
3 VCC_P5V0
4 VCC_P3V3
Unregulated 5V (output, derived from one of the input
sources)
Regulated 3.3V (output, used as main power supply for the
kit)
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4. Hardware Users Guide
4.1 Power Distribution
SAMC21N Xplained Pro has two power sources. Figure 4-1 illustrates a block diagram of the power
supply circuitry. The kit can be powered from the EDBG USB and an external 5.0V source. The kit will
automatically select which source to draw power from.
The EDBG controls an on-board power switch to the ATSAMC21N18A, the on-board peripherals, and
extension connectors. When the kit is powered up, the EDBG reads the ID chip information from all
connected Xplained Pro extension boards and checks that they are compatible with the voltage selected
by the power selection jumper. If the selected voltage is within the connected extensions ranges the
switch will open. If not, the EDBG power LED will blink rapidly and the switch will stay closed resulting in
no power provided to the ATSAMC21N18A, on-board peripherals, and connectors.
Caution: As the SAMC21N Xplained Pro can be powered by 5.0V care must be taken not to
connect any Xplained Pro extensions that does not support this voltage, doing so may result in
permanent damage. Check the respective extension kit's user guide to see which voltages are
acceptable.
SAMC21N Xplained Pro
Info: The EDBG only reads the ID information and controls the power switch when the kit is
powered up. This mechanism does not check hot-plugging of extension boards.
Figure 4-1. Power Supply Block Diagram
4.2 Connectors
The following sections describes the implementation of the relevant connectors and headers on
SAMC21N Xplained Pro and their connection to the ATSAMC21N18A. The tables of connections in the
sections also describes which signals are shared between the headers and on-board functionality. Figure
4-2 shows all available connectors and jumpers on SAMC21N Xplained Pro.
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Figure 4-2. SAMC21N Xplained Pro Connector Overview
SAMC21N Xplained Pro
4.2.1 Xplained Pro Extension Headers
The SAMC21N Xplained Pro headers EXT1, EXT2, and EXT3 offers access to the I/O of the
microcontroller in order to expand the board e.g. by connecting extensions to the board. These headers
are based on the standard extension header specified in Xplained Pro Standard Extension Header. The
headers have a pitch of 2.54mm.
Table 4-1. Extension Header EXT1
Pin on EXT1 SAMC21N pin Function Shared functionality
1 [ID] - - Communication line to the
2 [GND] - - Ground.
3 [ADC(+)] PB09 ADC0_AIN3 or
4 [ADC(-)] PB08 ADC0_AIN2 or
5 [GPIO1] PA10 SERCOM2 PAD[2] UART
6 [GPIO2] PA11 SERCOM2 PAD[3] UART
ID chip on an extension
board.
Shield
SDADC_INP[1] or Y[15]
Shield
SDADC_INN[1] or Y[14]
-
RTS or X[2]/Y[18]
-
CTS or X[3]/Y[19]
7 [PWM(+)] PB12 TC4/WO[0] or X[12]/Y[28] EDBG GPIO0
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