As the latest smart electronic products add extra sensor-driven features and adopt higher-efficiency power technologies such as silicon carbide or gallium nitride to save energy, STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, has unleashed its next generation of microcontrollers with the performance to manage them.
Targeted at advanced digital power applications and consumer and industrial appliances, the new STM32G4* microcontrollers introduce two new hardware mathematical accelerators to boost processing of applications using Cordic[1] and Filtering functions among a range of features to support increased performance and energy efficiency. Dedicated to speeding calculations such as trigonometry for energy-saving motor controls in appliances or air conditioners and filtering for signal conditioning or digital power control, the accelerators compute results faster and more efficiently than the general-purpose main processor. This offloading also frees the core to receive more sensor data and control additional user functions.
Further new features include higher-resolution power conversion timers with various built-in functions that offload the CPU and ease developers’ lives. There are also higher-performing analog peripherals and converters, ultra-speed connections for lightning-fast response to external events, and support for the latest USB-C interface with Power Delivery that allows fast charging or conveniently powering devices up to 100W.
“Cutting-edge consumer and industrial products can now deliver more for less, leveraging the innovations we have engineered into the STM32G4 series,” said Ricardo De Sa Earp, General Manager of STMicroelectronics’ Microcontroller Division. “Building on the unprecedented concept of the STM32F3 series, which integrates rich, enhanced peripherals and interfaces with the industry-standard Arm® core, our latest microcontrollers now extend the application reach and help simplify design at the same time as reducing power consumption and boosting performance.”
With faster compute, greater precision, and increased feature integration, STM32G4 MCUs support extra functionality and increase energy efficiency in a wide range of products addressing smart-living, smart-factory, and smart-energy applications. These range across e-mobility including e-bikes, digital power supplies, advanced motor controls, lighting, building-automation products, and many others.
In addition, features such as a scalable securable memory area for secret storage and secure live firmware upgrade, debug-access prevention after programming to reduce threat surfaces, state-of-the-art AES-256 encryption, unique device ID, and true random-number generator (TRNG) empower developers to handle the latest cyber-security challenges.
More than 100 of the 152 devices ST has planned for this series are already available, from Access Line devices in 32-pin packages to Performance Line and High-Resolution Line MCUs with up to 107 fast input/output pins. Prices start from $1.68 (10,000-unit price) for the STM32G431K6U6 with 32Kbyte Flash memory in the 32-pin QFN32 package.
