Flash MCUs save power in 5V systems

A new series of low-cost microcontrollers with integrated Flash memory is optimised for any application requiring 5V operation with extremely low power consumption.

Available now from Renesas Technology Europe is the H8/38327F series of low-cost low-power 5V-operation microcontrollers with integrated Flash memory.

The series is optimised for any application requiring 5V operation with extremely low power consumption, such as metering applications, datalogging and sensors.

It also features an on-chip LCD controller, capable of displaying up to 128 segments for simple display applications.

The H8/38327F series incorporates either 32 or 60Kbyte of on-chip Flash memory, which provides the user with an enhanced level of flexibility to easily program the chip once sourced.

The series also includes a high-performance 16MHz 8bit CPU core that is capable of executing a 16bit addition in 250ns and an 8bit multiply in 1.75us.

The use of this CPU makes the series ideal for metering applications that require such levels of reliability and performance.

In order to ensure that the H8/38327F series uses the minimum amount of power possible, it integrates a 32kHz suboscillator that allows a wide range of low power modes to be implemented.

In addition, the startup time for the main oscillator has been reduced to around 20us, approximately 100 times faster than the average 2-3ms time taken by a standard oscillator.

This has a dramatic impact on the amount of power required to start the main oscillator, reducing the size of the battery required or alternatively boosting the life of a standard sise battery.

Many applications such as metering require pulses to be counted continuously during the operation of the product.

In a low power environment, either an external ASIC is used to complete this task or the microcontroller itself must be kept awake in order to count the pulses.

However, the H8/38327F series integrates an asynchronous counter that is designed to count external pulses while it is in any low power mode.

Therefore, the pulses can still be counted while reducing current drain to a minimum, a significant advantage over current alternative offerings.

The H8/38327F series is supported by the Renesas Technology E8 on-chip debugger.

This allows users to take advantage of many of the debug features normally found on full emulators, but at a fraction of the cost, while using the real device.

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