MCUs target white goods and industrial control applications.
Press Release Summary:
Suited for embedded system designs, Series H8S/Tiny 16-bit, 20 MHz MCUs include 64-pin devices in H8S/20103 group and 80-pin devices in H8S/20203 and H8S/20223 groups. Units feature 16-bit H8S/2000 CISC CPU core, 128 Kb of on-chip flash memory, 8 Kb (two 4 Kb blocks) of extended endurance data flash memory for replacing external EEPROM, and peripheral functions such as event link controller. Peripheral I/O mapping controller allows users to customize arrangement of pin functions.
Original Press Release:
Renesas' New H8S/Tiny Series Microcontrollers Enhance Performance and Integration for Cost-Sensitive White Goods and Industrial Control Applications
The new 16-bit, 20MHz MCUs deliver more performance and have advanced peripherals such as a peripheral I/O mapping controller to simplify systems and reduce cost.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - November 12, 2007 - Renesas Technology America, Inc. today announced the H8S/Tiny series, a new group in the popular H8S series of high-performance 16-bit microcontrollers (MCUs) for low-cost embedded system designs. There are a total of 24 devices in the H8S/Tiny series in three product groups: the 64-pin devices in the H8S/20103 group and the 80-pin devices in the H8S/20203 and H8S/20223 groups. The new MCUs are successors to the devices in the H8/Tiny series, offering more processing performance, additional on-chip peripheral functions, and advanced tool support. They maintain compatibility with the H8/Tiny devices, allowing customers to make smooth and rapid transitions to product designs that perform better and require fewer components. Primary applications include white goods, building automation equipment and industrial control systems.
"The new H8S/Tiny series MCUs deliver significantly more performance and functionality than our previous H8/Tiny chips," said Ritesh Tyagi, director, system LSI business unit, Renesas Technology America, Inc. "Importantly, they incorporate the 16-bit H8S/2000 CPU core, a single-cycle execution CISC architecture that runs complex instructions efficiently. They also have up to 128Kbytes of on-chip flash memory, plus 8Kbytes (two 4Kbyte blocks) of extended endurance 'data flash' memory for replacing external EEPROM. Beyond that, they also include innovative peripheral functions that improve real-time system operation and enhance system design flexibility."
He added, "This new product line gives customers optimal computational capabilities at attractive price points. And it eliminates the need to make disruptive, time-consuming transitions to more expensive 32-bit MCUs. Moreover, the software compatibility of these H8S/Tiny MCUs and the support tools we offer for them combine to help shorten system design cycles."
Event link controller, I/O mapping controller and data transfer controller
One of the innovative peripheral functions that the new MCUs provide is an event link controller, which can significantly boost real-time processing performance. For example, in a typical MCU device, real-time events or interrupts are handled by the CPU directly. In contrast, the event link controller allows H8S/Tiny devices to efficiently process interrupt requests and trigger multiple peripheral blocks in sequence without using the CPU, so more CPU cycles become available for application processing. The devices also have a data transfer controller (DTC) that can carry out data transfer operations with no CPU intervention. By using both of these functions, for example, plus a timer and a serial port, A/D conversion values can be periodically transferred to an external device via a serial interface without slowing down program execution. This approach maximizes overall performance or makes it possible to operate the MCU at a lower frequency to reduce current consumption.
Another new on-chip function provided by H8S/Tiny MCUs is a peripheral I/O mapping controller that allows engineers to customize the arrangement of pin functions. Engineers can use this capability to simplify system development and increase design flexibility. One of seven different functions can be selected by software and assigned to each pin. Because the MCU's pins can be re-assigned without making any changes at a board level, a single development board can be used for multiple products, reducing design time and cost.
Additionally, these new MCUs have a high-speed, highly precise on-chip oscillator that eliminates the need for an external resonator. The internal oscillator runs at 40MHz or 32MHz. Its oscillation precision of +/-1% ranks in the industry's top class and is maintained over a temperature range of -20 to 85C and a power supply voltage range of 2.7 to 5.5V. This high-speed internal clock can be fed directly to 16-bit timer units, enabling the implementation of high-speed pulse width modulation (PWM) control for motors and other applications. Additional peripheral functions provided by H8S/Tiny MCUs include up to sixteen channels of 10-bit A/D converter, a two-channels D/A converter, timers, a hardware LIN, multiple serial interfaces and power-on reset circuits.
Hardware/software tools
Renesas offers comprehensive system development support for the H8S/Tiny series MCUs. The E8a universal low-cost on-chip debugging emulator, which can also be used as an in-system flash memory programmer, is available to aid system development. Renesas also provides the High-performance Embedded Workshop (HEW) integrated development and debugging environment that includes a complete C/C++ compiler toolchain. A version of HEW that can generate up to 64KB of application code is also available at no charge. Additionally, the new E100 emulator, a powerful in-circuit emulator with extensive debugging capabilities that will provide a unified emulation platform for Renesas MCUs is also planned. Its advanced features, such as drag-and-drop setting of complex hardware event points and instant filtering of trace data, will be operated via powerful, yet user-friendly graphical debugging interfaces.
About Renesas Technology Corp.
Renesas Technology Corp. is one of the world's leading semiconductor system solutions providers for mobile, automotive and PC/AV (Audio Visual) markets and the world's No.1 supplier of microcontrollers. It is also a leading provider of LCD Driver ICs, Smart Card microcontrollers, RF-ICs, High Power Amplifiers, Mixed Signal ICs, System-on-Chip (SoC), System-in-Package (SiP) and more. Established in 2003 as a joint venture between Hitachi, Ltd. (TSE:6501, NYSE:HIT) and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TSE:6503), Renesas Technology achieved consolidated revenue of 953billion JPY in FY2006 (end of March 2007). Renesas Technology is based in Tokyo, Japan and has a global network of manufacturing, design and sales operations in around 20 countries with about 26,500 employees worldwide. For further information, please visit www.renesas.com
