Renesas Electronics Lowers the Bar for Ultra-Low Power Microcontrollers with its New RX200 32-Bit MCU Series

TOKYO, Japan, March 1, 2011 — Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), a premier provider of advanced semiconductor solutions, today introduced the first members of the new RX200 Series of 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs) with embedded flash memory that extend its very successful RX MCU family into the realm of ultra-low power and wide-voltage range operation.

Two years ago Renesas Electronics launched the RX600 Series of extreme high-performance and high-connectivity 32-bit MCUs, and now the RX Family is extended by the RX200 Series down this vital path which satisfies increasing demand for ultra-low power, low-voltage embedded MCU applications such as smart meters, portable healthcare devices, smartphones, intelligent sensors, climate control, and almost all portable battery-operated devices. Additionally, RX200 MCUs are especially well suited for appliances by operating up to 5.5 volts (V), by complying with the IEC 60730 appliance safety standard (Note 1), and by having specialized motor control capabilities.

The RX200 and RX600 Series of MCUs share the same powerful 32-bit CISC RX CPU core, and they share many common peripherals for easy migration within the RX Family, re-using the same firmware, compiler, debugger, and development environment.

The first MCUs to debut in the RX200 Series are in the RX210 Group, all with a maximum operating frequency of 50 megahertz (MHz), producing 78 Dhrystone million instructions per second (DMIPS, Note 2) with zero wait-states from flash memory while operating from 2.7 V to 5.5 V and consuming just 0.21 mA/DMIPS at 50 MHz. A special multi-stage internal voltage regulator scales down power consumption allowing the RX210 to efficiently operate up to 32 MHz at just 1.8 V, and up to 20 MHz at just 1.62 V. Internal flash memory may be erased and reprogrammed, and internal analog peripherals continue to function even when the operating voltage is as low as 1.62 V. These characteristics make RX200 MCUs ideal for low-power and portable battery-operated applications with their extreme power efficiency while active, and minimal current consumption while in deep standby at only 1.3 microamperes (µA) with the real-time clock (RTC) running and able to wake up the CPU at programmed intervals if desired.

Many features which support the IEC 60730 appliance safety standard are designed into the silicon to insure data and code integrity, clock stability, and proper signal sampling. This removes a large burden from firmware, and provides immediate and reliable safety security. For example, a marching data test pattern is automatically swept through SRAM and confirmed in the background, system clocks are flagged if they operate outside a pre-determined frequency range, the analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) have self-test and positive-connection test capability, and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) unit checks the data flowing through serial channels.

The initial release of devices in the RX210 Group offer flash memory from 128 KB to 512 KB, an 8 KB E2 data flash with 100,000 erase cycles, and up to 64 KB of SRAM. Many key peripherals are included such as fast 1 µsec (microsecond) 12-bit ADCs with three sample-hold circuits and are linked to sophisticated timer systems; serial channels including USART and I2C interfaces; a full-function RTC with three tamper-detection inputs; analog comparators; 10-bit digital-to-analog converters (DAC); a temperature sensor; optional CPU external bus; direct memory access (DMA) controllers; a special event link controller (ELC) to sequence events across peripherals without disturbing the CPU; on-chip high- and low-speed oscillators, and complete system supervisor functions. There are LQFP (Low Quad Flat Package) and TFLGA (Thin Fine Pitch Land Grid Array) package　options as small as 7 × 7 millimeter (mm) with 64, 80, and 100 pins.

The RX210 Group of MCUs are sampling now to lead customers, and further product details will be announced later this year. Renesas Electronics will continue to introduce additional devices in the RX200 Series which expand choices of package type, memory size, connectivity options, and mixed-signal peripherals.

(Note 1) IEC60730:
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is an international organization that establishes standards for electrical engineering, electronic engineering, and related technologies. The IEC 60730 standard applies to household appliances.

(Note 2) DMIPS (Dhrystone million instructions per second):
A measurement obtained with the Dhrystone benchmarking program for evaluating computing performance. The 78 DMIPS performance scores achieved by the new RX210 Series MCUs are based on Dhrystone benchmark version 2.1.

Please refer to the separate sheet for the main specifications of the RX210 Series of MCUs.

Pricing and Availability

Samples of Renesas Electronics' RX210 Group of MCUs are available now. Pricing varies depending on memory capacity, package and number of pins. For example, the R5F52108ADFP MCU with 512 KB of flash memory and 64 KB of RAM equipped on a low quad flat package (LQFP) with 100 pins is priced at US$4.8 per unit in sample quantities of 10,000. The RX210 Group comprises 28 MCU products that will be the first to be released in the RX200 Series. Mass production of RX210 Group products will start in September 2011 and is expected to reach a scale of 2 million units per month in September 2012. A second selection of products will be added to the RX210 Group in FY2011, including products for applications such as meters, and the RX200 Series is expected to eventually comprise a lineup of about 100 products in total. (Pricing and availability are subject to change without notice.)

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About Renesas Electronics Corporation

Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723) delivers trusted embedded design innovation with complete semiconductor solutions that enable billions of connected, intelligent devices to enhance the way people work and live. A global leader in microcontrollers, analog, power and SoC products, Renesas provides comprehensive solutions for a broad range of automotive, industrial, infrastructure, and IoT applications that help shape a limitless future. Learn more at renesas.com. Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

The content in the press release, including, but not limited to, product prices and specifications, is based on the information as of the date indicated on the document, but may be subject to change without prior notice.