March 13, 2012, Seoul — STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM), a global semiconductor company in various electronic device applications and a leader in the microcontroller sector, announced that it has expanded its market-leading and proven STM32® portfolio to more than 300 products. The STM32 F0 is an all-new family that combines enhanced capabilities with ultra-low-power ARM® Cortex™-M0 embedded processors for price-sensitive applications. The new microcontroller family supports advanced features while lowering end product costs, helping to facilitate the transition from 8-bit and 16-bit device applications to 32-bit.

The ARM Cortex-M processor series has revolutionized electronic design by redefining conflicting design requirements such as performance, cost, power consumption, convenience, and scalability. ST developed the STM32 and redefined its product DNA to include exceptional real-time performance, industry-leading low-power efficiency, and a valuable ecosystem of diverse advanced peripherals and development tools. With this, ST has completed the industry's most diverse and successful family of microcontrollers based on the Cortex-M processor series, and has also included microcontrollers based on the world's highest-performing Cortex-M4 processor in its portfolio. The latest STM32 F0 family, unveiled today, utilizes powerful Cortex-M0 cores running at 48 MHz to build upon this DNA and provide additional high-value features not found in other products.

Michel Buffa, General Manager of ST’s Microcontroller Business Unit, stated, “The STM32 F0 family extends the strengths of ST’s Cortex-M processor series portfolio platform, allowing customers to enjoy STM32 DNA at an affordable price. By combining best-in-class communication and control peripherals with the M0 core, the STM32 F0 series enables developers to implement new solutions by providing features typically found at much higher price points.”

Keith Clarke, Vice President of Embedded Processors at ARM, stated, “ST is one of the leading partners for the Cortex-M3 processor, ARM’s first Cortex-M series processor. ST has also strengthened the ARM ecosystem with high-value products that leverage the intellectual property of numerous development tool vendors, including ARM and ST. The Cortex-M0 processor offers the perfect opportunity for 8-bit and 16-bit MCU developers to enjoy the performance benefits of 32-bit MCUs without sacrificing power or space. Furthermore, it includes features that allow for a seamless transition to higher-performance Cortex processors in the future.”

The STM32 F0 is an extension of the STM32 portfolio that fully benefits from the STM32 DNA, along with complete product configuration, dedicated production lines, and low costs, while also supporting applications previously run on 8-bit MCUs. One of the enhanced features of the STM32 F0 family is up to seven timers suitable for controlling heaters or motors, which allows multiple elements of an induction cooker to be controlled by a single device.

The STM32 F0 family also includes hardware that supports Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) with an HDMI interface. As the design of many home multimedia devices is simplified and supports connectivity based on the latest industry standard protocols, the microcontroller's CPU, memory, and peripherals have spare capacity to handle other tasks. The CEC kernel can be measured independently using a low-speed 32kHz external clock or an 8MHz internal clock, which contributes to system cost reduction. Additionally, the STM32 F0's 12MHz I/O toggle speed enables developers to build sophisticated control applications with low power consumption at a low cost.

The STM32 F0 microcontroller is currently being sampled and is priced at $0.95 for orders of 1,000 units. Full-scale production is scheduled for the second quarter of 2012, and customers can choose from 32-pin UFQFPN32, 48-pin LQFP48, and 64-pin LQFP64 packages. 20-pin and 100-pin expansion models are also expected to be released soon.

Additional information regarding STM32 F0
One of the added on-chip features is an analog block consisting of a 12-bit 1 Msample/s analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a 12-bit digital-to-analog converter (DAC), and two user-configurable analog comparators paired closely with the DAC. This provides superior analog performance compared to other M0-based devices from competing manufacturers, while enabling developers to use low-cost processors for applications requiring precision, high-speed sensors and control for multiple channels.

With four power-saving modes, including a 5.3µA stop mode and a 2.8µA standby mode, while the real-time clock operates normally, the energy-efficient STM32 F0 family simplifies design and extends battery life in applications such as remote control, sensor networks, and smart meters. The devices included in this product family are also suitable for industrial control, building automation, computer printers and white goods, game consoles, DVD/Blu-ray players and audio/video receivers, etc.

The PWM 16-bit and 32-bit timers embedded in the chip provide numerous functions, including 17 capture and compare input/output terminals mapped to up to 28 pins, making it suitable for motor control applications. Additionally, there are two timers with infrared transmission control capabilities, simplifying the implementation of infrared communication protocols.

High-performance communication features include a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) that supports user-configurable data frames up to 16-bit and baud rates up to 18 Mbit/s, as well as an I2C port that supports Fast mode+ communication up to 1 Mbit/s. Additionally, the I2C port can wake the MCU from sleep mode via address matching and reduce the burden of configuration for simple communication tasks, such as setting the communication clock. User-configurable analog and digital noise filtering enhances communication quality. It also includes a 6 Mbit/s USART that operates independently of the main processor clock frequency and supports multiple clock input options.

Additional explanation of the ARM Cortex-M processor series and its advantages
The ARM Cortex-M processor series family provides microcontroller manufacturers with a variety of industry-standard cores through licensing, freeing designers from proprietary processor architectures and the constraints associated with them. This family currently consists of the ultra-low-power, low-cost 32-bit M0 processor, the fully featured 32-bit M3 processor that supports a wide range of applications from cost-sensitive to high-performance, and the M4 processor, which combines a standard 32-bit processor with a Digital Signal Processing (DSP) core.

System vendors who had no choice but to use older 8-bit or 16-bit product families due to familiarity and costs already invested in tools and software can now switch to microcontrollers based on ARM Cortex-M series processors and benefit from a high-performance 32-bit architecture capable of supporting additional features and sophisticated applications.

The advantages of transitioning to ARM Cortex processor-based microcontrollers include price competitiveness compared to older 8-bit and 16-bit product families due to the modern Cortex design, as well as enhanced compatibility, flexibility, and scalability across pins, software, and peripherals through diverse microcontroller product families such as ST’s STM32 family. Features of ARM Cortex-M series processor-based microcontrollers include low power consumption, high on-chip flash and RAM density, low cost, and a wide range of packages, from styles with small pin counts to fine-pitch and BGA packages that provide multiple I/O terminals.