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Renesas News
RENESAS INTRODUCES NEW ENTRY-LEVEL RA0 MCU SERIES WITH BEST-IN-CLASS POWER CONSUMPTION
Low-cost devices target consumer electronics, small appliances, industrial system control and building automation.
Renesas Electronics introduced the RA0 microcontroller (MCU) Series based on the Arm® Cortex®-M23 processor. The new, low-cost RA0 devices offer the industry’s lowest overall power consumption for general-purpose 32-bit MCUs.
The RA0 devices consume only 84.3μA/MHz of current in active mode and only 0.82 mA in sleep mode. In addition, Renesas offers a Software Standby mode in the new MCUs that reduces power consumption by a further 99 percent to a miniscule 0.2 µA. Coupled with a fast wake-up High-speed On-Chip Oscillator (HOCO), these ultra-low power MCUs deliver an ideal solution for applications including battery-operated consumer electronics devices, small appliances, industrial system control, and building automation applications.
Feature Set Optimized for Low Cost
Renesas is now shipping the first group in the RA0 Series, the RA0E1 Group. These devices have a feature set optimized for cost-sensitive applications. They offer a wide operating voltage range of 1.6V to 5.5V so customers don’t need a level shifter/regulator in 5V systems. The RA0 MCUs also integrate timers, serial communications, analog functions, safety functions and HMI functionality to reduce customer BOM cost. A wide range of packaging options is also available, including a tiny 3mm x 3mm 16-lead QFN.
In addition, the new MCU’s high-precision (±1.0%) on-chip oscillator (HOCO) improves baud rate accuracy and enables designers to forego a standalone oscillator. Unlike other HOCOs, it maintains this precision in environments from -40°C to 105°C. This wide temperature range enables customers to avoid costly and time-consuming “trimming,” even after the reflow process.
The RA0E1 MCUs include critical diagnostic safety functions as well as an IEC60730 self-test library. They also offer security features including true random number generator (TRNG) and AES libraries for IoT applications, including encryption.
Key Features of the RA0E1 Group MCUs
- Core: 32MHz Arm Cortex-M23
- Memory: Up to 64KB integrated Code Flash memory and 12KB SRAM
- Analog Peripherals: 12-bit ADC, temperature sensor, internal reference voltage
- Communications Peripherals: 3 UARTs, 1 Async UART, 3 Simplified SPIs, 1 IIC, 3 Simplified IICs
- Safety: SRAM parity check, invalid memory access detection, frequency detection, A/D test, immutable storage, CRC calculator, register write protection
- Security: Unique ID, TRNG, Flash read protection
- Packages: 16-, 24- and 32-lead QFNs, 20-pin LSSOP, 32-pin LQFP
The new RA0E1 Group MCUs are supported by Renesas’ Flexible Software Package (FSP). The FSP enables faster application development by providing all the infrastructure software needed, including multiple RTOS, BSP, peripheral drivers, middleware, connectivity, networking, and security stacks as well as reference software to build complex AI, motor control and cloud solutions. It allows customers to integrate their own legacy code and choice of RTOS with FSP, thus providing full flexibility in application development. Using the FSP will ease migration of RA0E1 designs to larger RA devices if customers wish to do so.
