Dusseldorf, November 16, 2011 – Renesas Electronics, a premier provider of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced the expansion of the RL78 Family with the introduction of the new RL78/G1A Group of microcontrollers (MCUs). The RL78/G1A 16-bit MCUs integrate enhanced analog technology with industry-leading power-efficient technology of the RL78 Family to deliver excellent processing performance. The RL78/G1A Group of MCUs are ideal for a number of applications including industrial automation sensors, white goods, home automation and medical applications. Renesas has equipped the RL78 Family of MCUs with the superior DNA of the 78K and the R8C Family, contributing to lower system power consumption and reduced system cost. RL78 Family product development continues actively.
Key features of the new RL78/G1A Group of MCUs:
(1) Enhanced analog functions
The RL78/G1A MCUs incorporate enhanced analog functionality such as an accurate 12-bit A/D converter. The RL78/G1A MCUs have an independent power supply for internal analog parts that reduces noise influence from digital peripheral lines. The new devices support a maximum of 28 channel analog inputs, making them ideal for feature-rich sensor applications.
(2) Functions that contribute to reduced system power consumption overall
In addition to its 66 uA/MHz current consumption in active mode, and 0.57 uA with RTC + LVD active, the RL78/G1A MCUs support a new low-power mode called the “snooze mode”. The snooze mode supports analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion and serial communication while the CPU is in standby mode, which significantly extends the life of battery-operated devices.
(3) Small package
The RL78/G1A MCUs support the small packages of 3 x 3 mm land grid array (LGA) package and 4 x 4 mm ball grid array (BGA) package.
(4) Built-in safety mechanisms
The RL78 MCUs incorporate a number of built-in mechanisms that can be utilized to comply with standard safety regulations, such as IEC60730, which are required for electrical appliances. Such features include a flash memory cyclic redundancy check (CRC) function, RAM parity error checking, clock fail and frequency detection circuit, A/D test function and illegal memory access detection.
(5) Industry-standard development tools
Renesas’ low-cost E1 on-chip debugging emulator and the IECUBE full-spec emulator, which provide system designers with the ability to choose the product that best matches their debugging requirements, are available as hardware development tools. For flash programming Renesas offers the PG-FP5 programmer or factory programming. Powerful support for system designers of application software is provided by the IAR Embedded Workbench integrated development environment (IDE) and optimized C++ compiler.
Renesas partner companies continue to expand with a wide variety of hardware and software development tools for the RL78 Family including multiple RTOS providers.
Refer to the separate sheet for the main specifications of the new RL78/G1A MCUs.
Availability
Samples of Renesas’ new RL78/G1A Group of MCUs will be available in Q1 2012. Mass production is scheduled to begin in Q2 2012. (Availability is subject to change without notice.)
Remarks
The new RL78 Family uses SuperFlash® technology licensed from Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. SuperFlash® is a registered trademark of Silicon Storage Technology, Inc., of the U.S.A. in the United States, Japan, and other countries. Names of products or services mentioned in this release are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Other product and service names that appear in this press release are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
About Renesas Electronics Europe
Renesas Electronics Europe with its Business Operations Centre located in Dusseldorf, Germany, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), the world’s number one supplier of microcontrollers and a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions including microcontrollers, SoC solutions, secure MCU applications and a broad-range of analog and power devices. Renesas Electronics’ European structure is comprised of three dedicated business groups serving the region’s key markets: automotive, communications & consumer and industrial. The business groups are supported by the Engineering Group, which itself includes the Engineering Design Centre; the European Quality Centre that provides technical support to local customers in Europe; and the European Technology Centre to design leading-edge products specifically for the European market. Further information about Renesas Electronics Europe can be found at: www.renesas.eu.
