The ADuCM356 is an on-chip system that controls and measures electrochemical sensors and biosensors. The ADuCM356 is an ultralow power, mixed-signal microcontroller based on the Arm^® Cortex^™-M3 processor. The device features current, voltage, and impedance measurement capability.

The ADuCM356 features a 16-bit, 400 kSPS, multichannel successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) with input buffers, built-in antialias filter (AAF), and programmable gain amplifier (PGA). The current inputs include three transimpedance amplifiers (TIA) with programmable gain and load resistors for measuring different sensor types. The analog front end (AFE) also contains two low power amplifiers designed specifically for potentiostat capability to maintain a constant bias voltage to an external electrochemical sensor. The noninverting inputs of these two amplifiers are controlled by on-chip, dual output digital-to-analog converters (DACs). The analog outputs include a high speed DAC and output amplifier designed to generate an AC signal.

The ADC operates at conversion rates up to 400 kSPS with an input range of −0.9 V to +0.9 V. An input mux before the ADC allows the user to select an input channel for measurement. These input channels include three external current inputs, multiple external voltage inputs, and internal channels. The internal channels allow diagnostic measurements of the internal supply voltages, die temperature, and reference voltages.

Two of the three voltage DACs are dual output, 12-bit string DACs. One output per DAC controls the noninverting input of a potentiostat amplifier, and the other controls the noninverting input of the TIA.

The third DAC (sometimes referred to as the high speed DAC) is designed for the high power TIA for impedance measurements. The output frequency range of this DAC is up to 200 kHz.

A precision 1.82 V and 2.5 V on-chip reference source is available. The internal ADC and voltage DAC circuits use this on-chip reference source to ensure low drift performance for all peripherals.

The ADuCM356 integrates a 26 MHz Arm Cortex-M3 processor, which is a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer (RISC) machine.

The Arm Cortex-M3 processor also has a flexible multichannel direct memory access controller (DMA) supporting two independent serial peripheral interface (SPI) ports, universal asynchronous receiver/ transmitter (UART), and I²C communication peripherals. The ADuCM356 has 256 kB of nonvolatile flash/EE memory and 64 kB of single random access memory (SRAM) integrated on-chip.

The digital processor subsystem is clocked from a 26 MHz on-chip oscillator. The oscillator is the source of the main digital die system clock. Optionally, a 26 MHz phase-locked loop (PLL) can be used as the digital system clock. This clock can be internally subdivided so that the processor operates at a lower frequency and saves power. A low power, internal 32 kHz oscillator is available and can clock the timers. The ADuCM356 includes three general-purpose timers, a wake-up timer (which can be used as a general-purpose timer), and a system watchdog timer.

The analog subsystem has a separate 16 MHz oscillator used to clock the ADC, DACs, and other digital logic on the analog die. The analog die also contains a separate 32 kHz, low power oscillator to clock a watchdog timer on the analog die. Both the 32 kHz oscillator and this watchdog are independent from the digital die oscillators and system watchdog timer.

A range of communication peripherals can be configured as required in a specific application. These peripherals include UART, I²C, two SPI ports, and general-purpose input/output (GPIO) ports. The GPIOs, combined with the general-purpose timers, can be combined to generate a pulse-width modulation (PWM) type output.

Nonintrusive emulation and program download are supported via the serial wire debug port (SW-DP) interface.

The ADuCM356 operates from a 2.8 V to 3.6 V supply and is specified over a temperature range of −40°C to +85°C. The chip is packaged in a 72-lead, 6 mm × 5 mm land grid array (LGA) package. 

APPLICATIONS

• Gas detection
• Food quality
• Environmental sensing (air, water, and soil)
• Blood glucose meters
• Life sciences and biosensing analysis
• Bioimpedance measurements
• General amperometry, voltammetry, and impedance spectroscopy functions