Japanese electronics giant Renesas has introduced low-power microcontrollers to address applications such as water meters, smart locks and IoT sensors.

The RA4L1 microcontroller (MCU) group includes 14 devices with low power consumption, security features and segment LCD support. Based on an 80MHz Arm Cortex M33 processor with TrustZone support, the MCUs combine performance, features and power savings.

The proprietary low-power technology delivers 168µA/MHz active mode at 80MHz and standby current of 1.70µA with all the SRAM retained. They also are available in small packages including a 3.64 by 4.28mm wafer-level chip-scale package (WLCSP), addressing the needs of products such as portable printers, digital cameras and smart labels.

The MCUs (www.renesas.com/RA4L1) are supported by the firm’s FSP flexible software package. The FSP enables faster application development by providing all the infrastructure software needed, including multiple RTOS, BSP, peripheral drivers, middleware, connectivity, networking and TrustZone support as well as reference software to build complex AI, motor control and cloud offerings.

Users can integrate their own legacy code and choice of RTOS with FSP, thus providing flexibility in application development. The FSP eases migration of existing IP to and from either RA6 or RA2 series devices.

“Renesas’ RA2L1 group MCUs have seen remarkable market success since their launch in 2020, addressing a diverse range of low-power applications requiring capacitive touch,” said Daryl Khoo, vice president at Renesas. “Built on the same low-power technology, the RA4L1 group is our response to customers who require the unique combination of ultra-low power with better CPU performance, segment LCD support and advanced security.

The RA4L1 MCUs are available now, along with the FSP software. Renesas (www.renesas.com) is also shipping an RA4L1 evaluation board and capacitive touch starter kit.