Flash MCUs cut pin counts and costs

The R8C series is the first low-end low-pin-count Flash microcontroller family from Renesas Technology Europe.

The R8C series is the first low-end low-pin-count Flash microcontroller family from Renesas Technology Europe.

The series incorporates a high-performance 16bit CPU and easy-to-use Flash memory and is suitable for a wide range of applications, including home electrical appliances, security devices, industrial equipment, imaging devices, OA products and PC peripherals.

The first set of devices comes in 32-pin packages, future devices are planned that have just 20 pins.

The R8C series is positioned below the current M16C/20 and H8/300H Tiny series which offer pin counts of 42 to 64.

The new devices are based on the M16C family of 16bit microcontrollers, incorporating an R8C CPU core and inheriting the M16C family features of high processing performance, ROM code efficiency, low power consumption, and low noise.

Their instruction compatibility allows the use of existing M16C family software resources.

The first devices from the series will be three models in the basic-specification R8C/10 group and three models in the functionally enhanced R8C/11 group.

The R8C/10 devices have a maximum operating frequency of 16MHz and incorporate such peripheral functions as multifunction timers, serial interfaces, a high-speed 10bit A/D convertor, a 100kHz ring oscillation circuit that requires no resonator, and a main clock oscillation stoppage detection function.

The R8C/11 devices have a higher maximum operating frequency of 20MHz and incorporate a timer output compare function, a ring oscillation circuit switchable between 100kHz and 8MHz, a power-on reset circuit, and a voltage detection circuit, in addition to the peripheral functions of the R8C/10 group.

The on-chip single-power-supply Flash memory is available in 16, 12 and 8Kbyte sizes, and features onboard programming with fast write speeds and high reliability.

In addition, the availability of a C compiler offering high code efficiency simplifies program development and enables them to be kept compact, allowing sophisticated processing programs to be stored in small capacity memory.

The memory address space is 64Kbyte.

The same low cost E7 on-chip debugging emulator as used with the H8/300H Tiny series is available as a development environment tool.

A European starter kit 3DK, free evaluation compiler and other tools are also available, enabling the user to implement a program development environment at low cost.

The E7 tool can be used as a Flash memory writer as well as an emulator.

The 3DK starter kit is positioned to be lowest cost entry level within the R8C tool chain.

The R8C series employs a small 32-pin LQFP (7 x 7mm).

Sample shipments of the R8C/10 and R8C/11 devices will begin in October 2003.

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