With the release of a new 16-bit general-purpose RL78/G23 microcontroller (MCU), Renesas Electronics Corporation has strengthened its RL78 family of low-power microcontrollers. Optimized for IoT endpoint applications, this new line of microcontrollers increases the on-chip flash memory capacity to 768 KB and expands on-chip peripheral functions, which extend functionality while reducing the bill of materials (BOM) cost, while improving power consumption required by battery-powered applications.
These new microcontrollers are well suited for a wide range of applications that require both power and cost efficiency, including IoT endpoint devices such as home electronics, remote controls, and sensors. The RL78/G23 microcontrollers feature a Renesas-exclusive capacitive touch sensor unit that combines superior high-sensitivity and low-noise characteristics. It can be used to implement a contactless gesture-based user interface (UI). The enhanced security functions like a true random number generator (TRNG) essential for certificate encryption, device-specific unique ID, and a customer ID that can be specified by the user make it possible to develop truly secure systems.
The device realizes 44µA/MHz at CPU operation and 210nA during STOP (with 4KB of SRAM retention), with lower power consumption as compared to the current RL78 microcontroller. Also, there is a newly implemented SNOOZE mode sequencer (SMS) in the device that eliminates the need to activate the CPU while any peripheral operations are operating in snooze mode, dramatically reducing power consumption for applications that utilize intermittent operation.
Additionally, there is a logic and event link controller (ELCL) that adds logic functionality to the capabilities of a conventional event link controller (ELC) making it easier to create conditional links to multiple events while continuing to benefit from the reduced power consumption realized by the ELC.
Key Features of RL78/G23 Microcontrollers
- RL78 CPU core running at 32 MHz
- Support for operating voltages ranging from 1.6 V to 5.5 V
- Max. 768 KB of code flash memory, 8 KB of data flash memory, max. 48 KB of SRAM to support software updates, etc.
- On-chip capacitive touch sensor unit that can be used to implement a high-sensitivity contactless UI
- High-precision (±1.0%), high-speed on-chip oscillator
- Analog functions such as 12-bit A/D converter, 8-bit D/A converter, and temperature sensor, etc.
- Remote control signal reception function, enabling the on-chip implementation of a remote control receiver
- Output current control (15 mA) port for LED drive and 40 mA output port
- Package lineup with pin counts from 30 to 128 pins
