Launch of New STM32L0 MCU Line and Development Ecosystem

STMicroelectronics (hereinafter ST) has begun mass production of the ultra-high-efficiency ARM® Cortex®-M0+ microcontroller STM32L0. Along with this, it is providing a rich development ecosystem, including the lowest-cost boards and free software tools, to help significantly reduce application power consumption and minimize time-to-market during development.

The STM32L0 microcontroller (MCU) series, optimized for power-sensitive applications such as wearables, medical monitors, industrial sensors, and smart living devices, achieved a ULPMark™-CP[2] score of 135 and 158.7 with the DC/DC converter, recording top-tier energy efficiency in the industry. In addition, by applying ST’s proprietary process technology with excellent temperature stability, it achieves the industry’s best power consumption, combining outstanding efficiency and robustness even at 125°C.

The three new product lines consist of the STM32L0x1 access line, the STM32L0x2 USB line with crystal-less USB 2.0 full speed, and the STM32L0x3 USB/LCD line with HMI support. Memory sizes range from 8KB to 192KB of flash, up to 20KB of SRAM, and up to 6KB of pure EEPROM. The new 14-pin package option enables the implementation of the world's smallest STM32 MCU while providing 32-bit performance for entry-level embedded applications.

Consumes only 41µA at 10 Ksample/s, 3.5µs wake-up in standby mode

Key energy-saving features of the new STM32L0 device include a low-power ADC that consumes only 41µA at 12-bit resolution and 10 Ksample/s, an energy-saving mode that includes a 340nA pause upon standby, full RAM retention, and an automatic wake-up function, a low-power pulse counter (16-bit timer) that operates even in ultra-low-power mode, and a 3.5µs wake-up in standby mode. It also provides an interconnect matrix that enables data processing to continue even when the CPU is idle.

Software development is supported by the STM32CubeMX and STM32CubeL0 middleware and firmware sets. The STM32CubeMX initialization code generator and MCU configurator provide user-friendly wizards, including a power consumption calculator that evaluates and adjusts power demand estimates. Because STM32CubeL0 includes a Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL), it can be easily ported to other devices in the STM32 family that are pin- and code-compatible. In addition, STM32Snippets provides optimized code samples. STM32Cube offers a total of over 200 free code examples. All STM32Cube tools are available for free, and the ST-Link debugger, DfuSe, and flash loader tool, which simplifies the use and testing of ROM bootloaders, are also free.

With the 32-pin small form factor Nucleo-32 board for 16KB and 32KB versions, or the 64-pin Nucleo-64 board for 64KB and 192KB MCUs, you can start development with low-cost prototype boards with minimal investment. Discovery kits featuring an ePaper display and evaluation boards equipped with inductive sensing circuitry are also available. Each board includes an ST-Link hardware debugger that provides access to all MCU pins and an Arduino-compatible connector that offers convenient functionality expansion. Additionally, since they are compatible with ARM mbed™, developers can freely access online tools at mbed.org.

The STM32L0 series is currently available in over 100 part numbers with 8KB to 192KB of flash and is supported by free third-party development tools such as KEIL™ MDK-ARM, Ac6 System Workbench, and the GCC-based Atollic TrueSTUDIO Lite. Unlike other free IDEs, these tools have no limitations on supported features or devices.

Prices for the STM32L0 series start at $0.37 for bulk orders for the STM32L011, which features 8KB flash, 2KB SRAM, and 512 bytes of pure EEPROM.