Ambiq Apollo3 Blue Plus System-on-Chip
Ambiq Apollo3 Blue Plus System-on-Chip offers ultra-low power in a highly integrated SoC platform based on Ambiq's patented Subthreshold Power Optimized Technology (SPOT®). The Apollo3 Blue Plus SoC provides a new standard in energy efficiency for battery-powered devices, implementing an integrated Arm® Cortex®-M4 processor with Floating Point Unit and turboSPOT®. These features boost the computational capabilities of the Arm Cortex-M4F core to 96MHz while lowering the active power consumption to <6µA/MHz. Furthermore, this combination dramatically reduces energy consumption while allowing abundant application processing power to expand capability and extend life to battery-operated devices.
The Ambiq Apollo3 Blue Plus SoC includes an integrated DMA engine, QSPI interface, and advanced stepper motor control for ultra-low power analog watch hand management. The Apollo3 Blue Plus also forms the base of Ambiq's Voice-on-SPOT reference platform, making it the ideal device for always-on voice assistant integration and command recognition to battery-powered devices. The device supplies a dedicated second core for the ultra-low power BLUETOOTH® Low Energy 5 connectivity platform, utilizing superior RF throughput and leaving plenty of resources available for user applications.
The Apollo3 Blue Plus adds two additional MSPI modules (three total) and raises the external memory execute-in-place (XiP) aperture from 64MB to 96MB (32MB/MSPI instance). The internal flash extends from 1MB to 2MB, SRAM from 384KB to 768KB (TCM size remains at 64KB), and the GPIO count increases from 50 to 74.
Features
- Ultra-low supply current
- 6µA/MHz executing from flash or RAM at 3.3V
- 1µA deep sleep mode (BLUETOOTH Low Energy Off) with RTC at 3.3V (BLUETOOTH Low Energy in SD)
- High-performance Arm Cortex-M4 processor
- Up to 48MHz nominal clock frequency with 96MHz performance turboSPOT mode
- Floating Point Unit (FPU)
- Memory Protection Unit (MPU)
- Wake-up interrupt controller (WIC) with 32x interrupts
- Integrated BLUETOOTH Low Energy module
- RF sensitivity of -93dBm (typical)
- Tx up to +3dBm output power
- Ultra-low power memory
- Up to 2MB of flash memory for code/data
- Up to 768KB of low-power RAM for code/data
- 16KB 2-way associative/direct-mapped cache
- Wide operating range of 1.755V to 3.63V, -40°C to +85°C
- 5.3mm x 4.3mm x 0.8mm, 108-pin BGA package with 74x GPIOs
- Ultra-low power interface for on- and off-chip sensors
- 14-bit ADC, 14x selectable input channels available
- Up to 2.67MS/s sampling rate
- Voltage Comparator (VCOMP)
- Temperature sensor with ±3°C accuracy after calibration
- Ultra-low power flexible serial peripherals
- IS07816 secure interface
- 1x 2/4/8-bit and 2x 2/4-bit SPI master interface (MSPIs)
- 6x l2C/SPI masters for peripheral communication
- 1x l2C/SPI slave for host communications
- 2x UART modules with 32-location Tx and Rx FIFOs
- PDM for mono and stereo audio microphones
- 1x 12S slave for PDM audio pass-through
- Rich set of clock sources
- 32.768kHz crystal (XTAL) oscillator
- Low-frequency RC (LFRC) oscillator (1.024kHz)
- High-frequency RC (HFRC) oscillator (48MHz/96MHz)
- RTC based on Ambiq's AM08X5/18X5 family
Applications
- Voice-on-SPOT compatible for always-listening keyword detection, audio command recognition, and voice assistant integration in battery-powered devices, including:
- BLUETOOTH headsets, earbuds, and truly wireless earbuds
- Remote and gaming controls
- Smart home
- Wearables, including smartwatches and fitness/activity trackers
- Hearing aids, digital health monitoring, and sensing devices
- Smart home automation, security, and lighting control applications
Associated Products
Ambiq Apollo3 Blue Low Power System-on-Chips
An ultra-low power, highly integrated microcontroller solution based on the Ambiq patented SPOT®.
Associated Dev Tools
Ambiq Apollo3 Blue Plus Evaluation Board
Implements the Apollo3 Blue Plus for battery-powered apps requiring sensor and data measurement.
Ambiq Apollo3 Blue Plus Voice-on-SPOT Kit
Implements the creation of ultra-low power audio and voice capabilities on the SoC.
Additional Resources
Block Diagram
