TI for the low cost, Renesas aims at the touch market
31
Oct
2024
TI is heating up the competitition with low prices Cortex-M0+ giving an additional 128kB of Flash for an extra cent ($0.01) for a Dollar part. At the same time Renesas invests in touch RX v3 MCUs to power the industrial and home applications.
No significant changes this month.
Microchip’s focus this month was on the ATSAMC21E18A (18 new variants), the DSPIC33AK128 (76 variants) and the PIC16F (93).
We are seeing 4 new Cortex-M7 variants of the mega flash products (4 and 8MB) the PIC32CZ.
There was an additional package option for the nRF52840 with QFN48.
Nuvoton added a few more KM1M7 Cortex-M7 parts, with larger packages HQFP 100 and 144.
NXP is adding a few parts in the i.MX8 Plus.
Renesas introduced the RX261 and RX260 microcontroller (MCU) Groups with 181 new products. The new 64 MHz RXv3 MCUs uses 69μA/MHz during active operation and 1μA in standby mode and target touch sensors applications even in wet environments.
Renesas’ third-generation capacitive touch IP (CTSU2SL) delivers high noise immunity and water resistance, allowing users to implement touch sensors in kitchen appliances and outdoor equipment such as smart locks.
The RX261 Group MCUs provide a wide range of features, including a Full Speed USB function controller with a high-speed on-chip oscillator (HOCO) that eliminates the need for external crystals to generate an accurate USB clock. A CAN FD module is also included to enable fast and reliable communication.
Key Features of the RX261/RX260 Group MCUs
- 64 MHz RXv3 core (355CoreMark)
- Memory: 256KB/384KB/512KB code flash, 8KB data flash, 128KB SRAM
- Low power (69μA/MHz active; 1μA in standby)
- Water-resistant touch sensing
- Operating range: 1.6V to 5.5V, -40°C to 85°C/105°C
- Peripherals: CTSU2SL, UART, I2C, SPI, 12-bit ADC, 8-bit DAC, Comparator, PWM timer, Low power timer
- Package Options: 48/64/80/100-pin LFQFP, 48-pin HWQFN
- 5V power supply support: High noise immunity and dynamic range of analog inputs
The RX261 adds:
- RSIP-E11A security IP: AES, ECC, and SHA engines and robust management features
- Peripherals: Full-speed USB (Host/Function), CAN FD, RSIP-E11A
No significant changes.
ST added 17 parts this month, all variants of existing parts.
TI released 24 parts, mostly F2800xx and the MSP430FR6xx.
What caught our attention is a couple of MSPM0L222x. The L2227SPNR and the L2228SPNR are identical except for the flash size, from 128 to 256kB. TI will charge respectively $0.98 and $0.99 @1000 parts. That is a small difference compared to ST STM32C011J4M6 and J6M6, respectively 16 and 32 kB for $0.24 and $0.29 @10k.
Fall mix
30
Sep
2024
There was a good mix of new products in September with NXP, ST and TI all releasing new Cortex-M parts. NXP boosted its M33 portfolio adding to the higher end while ST chose to protect the low cost STM32C0 with higher memory variants. TI is pushing the Cortex-M0+ to the automotive market, a move we haven’t seen – yet from ST.
No significant changes this month.
Microchip added about 50 products this month, mostly for the ATSAMC/D and E with new suffixes. These suffixes enlighten the user about the package type, grade (temperature and plating), and carrier. It also carries undocumented codes, potentially related to factory calibration. Some of the custom codes make the device quite more expensive, see ATSAMC21E17A-MUT ($2.16/5k) vs. ATSAMC21E17A-MUT510 ($2.74/5k). Can calibration justify such a value differential? Email your suggestions at info@keremi.com.
No change this month.
No change this month.
NXP is beefing up its MCX A series by adding a new higher end A15x variant.
MCX A are general-purpose Cortex-M33 MCUs designed to address a wide range of applications with scalable device options, low power and intelligent peripherals. The innovative power architecture is designed to support high utilization of I/Os and power efficiency with a simple supply circuit in a smaller footprint. Designed to support more GPIO pins for additional external connections, the MCX A allows designers to utilize a smaller package, simpler board design and lower system BOM costs. See below for details.
New package variants were introduced for the MCX C (Cortex-M0+) and for the MIMXRT101/6.
On another note, NXP announced the i.MX RT700 crossover MCU family with up to five computing cores. This includes a primary Cortex-M33 running at 325 MHz, with integrated HiFi 4 DSP for more demanding DSP and audio processing tasks. It also features NXP’s eIQ Neutron NPU, enabled with the eIQ machine learning software development environment. The family scales up to a best-in-class 7.5MB of ultra-low power SRAM with zero wait-state access. The i.MX RT700 also includes an ultra-low power sense compute subsystem with a second Cortex-M33 and integrated Cadence Tensilica HiFi 1 DSP. This removes the need for an external sensor hub, reducing system design complexity, footprint and BOM costs.
Renesas introduced a couple of dozen variants of existing products.
No significant changes.
ST is bringing some performance boost to its cost-efficient STM32C0 series.
WIth up to 128Kbyte of Flash and 24Kbyte of RAM, the STM32C071 MCUs add USB Host and crystal-less Device as well as TouchGFX support. With USB on-chip, designers can easily save at least one external clock and four decoupling capacitors to cut the bill of materials and ease PCB layout. Also, having only one power-supply pair helps to simplify the PCB design, new product designs can become slimmer, trimmer, and more competitive.
The STM32C0 MCUs feature a Cortex-M0+ core and can replace legacy 8-bit or 16-bit MCUs in equipment like home appliances, simple industrial controls, power tools, and IoT devices.
32 new devices were uncovered.
TI released 46 parts, mostly for low cost M0G3x but also for the MSP430F2/4/5/6 and the F28P65 (automotive).
| Sign up for our newsletter |