STMicroelectronics (ST) has become the first chipmaker to start mass production of a microcontroller equipped with the ARM Cortex-M7 processor.

The latest high-performance Cortex-M cores are ideal for advanced consumer, industrial, medical, and Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

The architecture of the new STM32F7 microcontrollers combines the Cortex-M7 core with advanced peripherals to maximize design advantages and minimize the use of discrete components, helping to increase application performance, add new features, extend battery life, and ensure robust security while reducing cost and size.

This architecture also saves time spent optimizing code performance and size, allowing you to focus more on differentiating the features of your final product.

“ST’s powerful development environment, including the ready-to-use STM32F7 Discovery kit and firmware, accelerates the design cycle,” said Daniel Colonna, Microcontroller Marketing Director at ST.

The STM32F7 Discovery Kit, designed for a variety of applications, is available with a wide range of STM32Cube firmware liveIn addition to Lori, it provides extensive environmental support from software development tool partners and the ARM mbed online community.

The open hardware of this Discovery Kit is priced at $49.90, offering a compact design at an affordable price point, and exposing the features of the STM32F7, including a color display WQVGA touchscreen, stereo audio, multi-sensor support, security, and high-speed connectivity.

It features an integrated ST-Link debugger/programmer that requires no separate probe. It also provides support for Arduino Uno connectivity and access to a wide range of specialized add-on boards, allowing unlimited expansion.

The STM32F7 family is in production now, offering a range of package options, including 14mm x 14mm LQFP100, 28mm x 28mm LQFP208, and 10mm x 10mm 0.65mm-pitch UFBGA176, 13mm x 13mm 0.8mm-pitch TFBGA216, and 5.9mm x 4.6mm WLCSP143. Prices start at $6.73 for the STM32F745VE with 512KB on-chip Flash in a 100-pin LQFP for orders of 1000 pieces.