Renesas Electronics Corporation, a provider of advanced semiconductor solutions, announced the expansion of its family of 32-bit RA microcontrollers (MCUs) with two new groups based on the Arm Cortex-M33 core with Arm TrustZone technology.
The new RA4E2 100 MHz Group and RA6E2 200 MHz Group are optimized to provide best-in-class power efficiency without compromising performance.
With options of 128 Kbyte and 256 Kbyte flash and 40 Kbytes of SRAM, the new groups integrate abundant connectivity options such as CAN FD, USB, QSPI, SSI and I3C on-chip interfaces and offer an easy upgrade path for other members of the RA Family. They are ideal for applications that require high performance in small packages, such as sensors, games, wearables and home appliances.
The RA4E2 and RA6E2 are the most economical members of the RA family with integrated CAN FD and are available with small package options including a space-saving 4 x 4 mm 36-pin BGA and a 5 x 5 32-pin QFN mm. to meet the needs of cost-sensitive and space-constrained applications. Furthermore, the low power consumption of the new devices saves energy, allowing the final products to contribute to a greener environment.
All RA devices are supported by the Renesas Flexible Software Package (FSP) that includes highly efficient drivers and middleware to facilitate communications implementation and improve peripheral functionality.
“Our AR family continues to exceed expectations by offering market-leading performance, features, ease of design and value,” said Roger Wendelken, senior vice president of the IoT and Infrastructure business unit at Renesas. “The new RA4E2 and RA6E2 groups are exceptional examples of why many customers have adopted the RA family as their MCU family of choice. We are confident that these parts will hit the sweet spot for a wide range of applications and that many designers will also turn to the RA family for future projects.”
The FSP GUI simplifies and speeds up the development process. It allows flexible use of legacy code as well as easy compatibility and scalability with other devices in the RA family. Designers using FSP also have access to the entire Arm ecosystem, as well as Renesas' extensive partner network, offering a wide range of tools that help accelerate time to market.
“More than 90% of processors sold are microcontrollers. The applications that use these MCUs are exceptionally varied , ” said Tom Hackenberg, principal market and technology analyst for computing and software at Yole Group. “By continuing to expand its AR offerings, Renesas can serve more customers in more markets with parts optimized for this wide range of specific applications.”
The RA4E2 MCU Group
The RA4E2 Group includes five different options, spanning 32- to 64-pin packages as small as 4 x 4 mm and 128kB of flash memory along with 40kB of SRAM. RA4E2 devices offer excellent active power consumption, utilizing 82 µA/MHz while running from Flash at 100 MHz.
They have an extended operating temperature range of -40/105°C. The RA4E2 Group is ideal for cost-sensitive applications and other systems that require an ideal combination of performance, low power consumption and small package size.
Characteristics of the RA4E2 Group:
- 100MHz Arm Cortex-M33 CPU Core
- 128kB integrated flash memory; 40kB of RAM
- Support for wide temperature range: Ta = -40/105° C
- 32- to 64-pin package options
- Low power operation: 82 µA/MHz in active mode while running at 100 MHz
- Integrated communication options including USB 2.0 Full-Speed device, SCI, SPI, I3C, HDMI CEC, SSI and CAN FD
- Reduced system costs with internal oscillator, abundant GPIO, advanced analog, low voltage detection and internal reset function
