STMicro Unveils the Entry-Level STM32U0, Drawing as Little as Half the Power of Its Predecessors
Designed to deliver up to twice the battery life of last-generation alternatives, the STM32U0 family has a single 56MHz Arm Cortex-M0+ core.
STMicroelectronics has announced anew parts in its popular STM32 range, designed to draw half the power of their predecessors — and targeting industrial, medical, smart metering, and consumer applications where peak performance takes a back seat to energy efficiency.
“It’s vital that these pervasive devices consume as little energy as possible as they help to minimize waste elsewhere. The new STM32U0 microcontroller series we are introducing today takes this notion to a new level, building on our proven ultra-low-power technologies," claims STMicro's Patrick Aidoune.
"In fact," Aidoune continues, "our new MCUs [Microcontroller Units] consume so little power that small devices in some dedicated applications like industrial sensor management can run for twice as long from the same size battery. This comes with the opportunity to add more advanced features and deliver cost-effective solutions for a variety of industrial, medical, and consumer devices."
Designed as the flagship of the company's entry-level microcontroller range, the new STM32U0 family gain their energy efficiency through what STMicro calls "state-of-the-art design techniques" coupled with a move to a new manufacturing process. Combined, these deliver a low standby mode consumption and improved wake-up performance — meaning the microcontroller can spend more of its time in sleep modes and draw less power than its predecessors while it's doing so.
The chips include a single Arm Cortex-M0+ core running at up to 56MHz and, depending on model chosen, up to 40kB of static RAM (SRAM) and 256kB of flash memory. The STM32U031x parts include a 12-bit analog to digital converter with one embedded rail-to-rail analog comparator, one operational amplifier, a low-power real-time clock (RTC), up to 21 capacitive sensing channels, and three I2C, two SPI, four USART, and two low-power UART buses.
The mid-range STM32U073x adds another analog comparator, a USB 2.0 bus, and an integrated LCD controller, and the STM32U083x closes the range with the addition of an AES accelerator for faster cryptography. All models include an on-chip oscillator to reduce the overall bill of materials (BOM), STMicro has confirmed.
The STM32U0 family is in production now, STMicro has confirmed, with pricing starting at $0.68 per chip in trays of 1,000 units and development boards starting at $10. More information is available on the official product page.