When the RTC Operating Mode bits in the Control A register (CTRLA.MODE) are written to 0x1, the counter operates in 16-bit Counter mode as shown in Figure 2. When the RTC is enabled, the counter will increment on every 0-to-1 transition of CLK_RTC_CNT. In 16-bit Counter mode, the 16-bit Period register (PER) holds the maximum value of the counter. The counter will increment until it reaches the PER value, and then wrap to 0x0000. This sets the Overflow Interrupt flag in the Interrupt Flag Status and Clear register (INTFLAG.OVF).
The RTC counter value can be read from or written to the Counter Value register (COUNT) in 16-bit format.
The counter value is continuously compared with the 16-bit Compare registers (COMPn, n=0..1). When a compare match occurs, the Compare n Interrupt flag in the Interrupt Flag Status and Clear register (INTFLAG.CMPn, n=0..1) is set on the next 0-to-1 transition of CLK_RTC_CNT.