Japanese chip maker Renesas has introduced a microcontroller based on the Arm Cortex-M23 processor for consumer electronics, small appliances, industrial control and building automation.

The RA0E2 MCUs provide low power consumption, extended temperature range, and a wide variety of peripheral functions and safety features.

Renesas introduced the RA0 MCU series in 2024 and it has become popular with a wide range of users due to its affordability and low power consumption. RA0E1 devices have already been adopted in consumer electronics, appliances and white goods, power tools, industrial monitoring, and other applications.

The RA0E2 MCUs are compatible with RA0E1 devices, offering pin-expansion while maintaining the same peripherals and low power. This compatibility allows the re-use of existing software.

Power consumption is 2.8mA in active mode and 0.89mA in sleep mode. An integrated high-speed on-chip oscillator (HOCO) enables a fast wake-up time so it can stay in software standby mode more of the time, where power consumption drops to 0.25µA.

The RA0E1 and RA0E2 MCUs suit battery-operated consumer electronics devices, small appliances, industrial system control and building automation application.

The RA0E2 devices have an operating voltage range of 1.6 to 5.5V so users don’t need a level shifter or regulator in 5V systems. The MCUs also integrate timers, serial communications, analogue functions, safety functions and security to reduce costs. Packaging options include a 5 by 5mm 32-lead QFN.

The ±1.0% precision HOCO improves baud rate accuracy and enables designers to forego a standalone oscillator. It maintains this precision in environments from -40 to +125˚C. This temperature range lets users avoid costly and time-consuming trimming, even after the reflow process.

“The market reception for our RA0 series has exceeded even our own high expectations,” said Daryl Khoo, vice president at Renesas. “The RA0E2 MCUs deliver the same ultra-low power and price point that have been so popular with our customers. The addition of extended temperature range and more memory opens up even more applications and use cases. We plan to further expand the RA0 product line, delivering options for 8 to 16bit MCU users transitioning to 32bit MCUs.”

Memory is up to 128kbyte integrated code flash and 16kbyte SRAM. Communications peripherals comprise three uarts, two async uarts, six simplified SPIs, two I²Cs and six simplified I²Cs. Analogue peripherals include 12bit ADC, temperature sensor and internal reference voltage.

The MCUs are supported by Renesas’ FSP flexible software package (www.renesas.com/en/software-tool/flexible-software-package-fsp) that enables faster application development by providing all the infrastructure software needed, including multiple RTOS, BSP, peripheral drivers, middleware, connectivity, networking and security stacks as well as reference software to build complex AI, motor control and cloud products. It lets users integrate their own legacy code and choice of RTOS with FSP, thus providing flexibility in application development. Using the FSP can also ease migration of RA0E1 designs to larger RA0E2 (renesas.com/RA0E2) devices.

Renesas (renesas.com) ships more than 3.5 billion MCUs per year, with approximately half of them serving the automotive industry, and the rest supporting industrial and IoT applications as well as data centre and communications infrastructure.