STMicroelectronics, a world leader in
microcontrollers, today announced sampling to lead customers of the
STM32L series: the industry’s first ultra-low-power ARM Cortex-M3
microcontrollers available from a top-10 silicon supplier. The STM32L
series combines a dedicated low-leakage 130nm process technology and
optimized power-saving architecture that are unique to ST, to deliver
industry-leading energy-saving performance.
The new STM32L series is part of ST’s EnergyLite platform of
ultra low-power products enabling designers to optimize performance,
functionality and battery life, and to meet efficiency-related criteria
such as eco-design targets.
"The STM32L series delivers the optimal balance between power
consumption and performance of any device from a global semiconductor
provider," said Michel Buffa, General Manager of ST’s Microcontroller
Division. "The STM32L will become the microcontroller of choice for
energy-lite applications in markets such as consumer, industrial,
medical or metering."
In addition to its extreme energy efficiency, the STM32L series also
has many features promoting data security and safe system operation,
including flexible Brown-Out Reset; on-board Flash with Error Correction
Code (ECC) support; a Memory Protection Unit (MPU); and JTAG fuse.
These features are recommended for all applications that require safe
product behavior and highly secure code and user-data management.
Integrated USB 2.0 Full Speed support also makes the devices ‘handset
ready’. Additionally, the MCU’s embedded LCD drivers enable easier,
cheaper and smaller application designs.
Joining the extensive STM32 family, which now has over 135 variants
offering complete pin, software, and peripherals compatibility for
maximum flexibility, the STM32L offers 33DMIPS at 32MHz (max) and offers
integrated Flash densities from 64Kbyte to 128Kbyte.
The STM32L series is sampling now to lead customers, and is priced
from $1.86 for the STM32L151 with 64Kbyte Flash in the LQFP48 package to
$2.81 for the STM32L152 with 128Kbyte in LQFP100, for orders over
10,000 pieces. Volume production will begin in Q4 2010.
Further Technical Information – How STM32L delivers energy-lite
performance:
The key to the STM32L’s industry-leading energy efficiency is ST’s
ultra low-power EnergyLite(TM) platform. This platform is also common to
ST’s 8-bit STM8L MCU family and is based on 130nm proprietary
technology, which is optimized for ultra-low leakage to maximize
efficiency when the microcontroller is active or when sleeping. In
addition, its embedded memory is based on a unique low-power Flash
technology developed by ST. Integrated support for Direct Memory Access
(DMA) allows peripherals to remain active, allowing developers to
realize significant savings by turning off the Flash – and the CPU –
while the application is running.
In addition to its underlying process-related power savings, the
STM32L series provides numerous features allowing developers to optimize
the power consumption of their applications. Six ultra-low-power modes
allow the device to fulfill its tasks while consuming the least possible
energy at any given time. The available modes are (preliminary figures
at 1.8V/25 degrees C):
— 10.4 microamps Low-Power Run mode at 32kHz
— 6.1 microamps Low-Power Sleep mode with one timer active
— 1.3 microamps STOP mode: Real-Time Clock (RTC), context preserved, RAM retention
— 0.5 microamps STOP mode: no RTC, context preserved, RAM retention
— 1.0 microamps Stand-By mode: RTC, back-up register preserved
— 270 nanoamps Stand-By mode: no RTC, Back-up register preserved
Two new low-power modes – ‘Low-Power Run’ and ‘Low-Power Sleep’ –
have been implemented in the STM32L series, to drastically reduce power
consumption at low frequency operation by using an ultra-low-power
regulator and oscillator. The regulator allows current demand to be
independent from the supply voltage. The STM32L also offers dynamic
voltage scaling, a well established power-saving technique that further
reduces the internal operating voltage for medium and low operating
frequencies. The current drawn, in normal Run mode, from Flash memory is
as low as 230 microamps per MHz and the STM32L delivers a
consumption/performance ratio down to 185 microamps/DMIPS.
In addition, the STM32L circuitry is designed to deliver high
performance at low voltages, which enables battery-operated equipment to
operate for longer before recharging. The integrated analog features
are capable of operating at supply voltages down to 1.8V. The digital
functions are able to operate from a supply voltage as low as 1.65V,
allowing prolonged operation in battery-powered equipment as the battery
voltage decays.
