Renesas Electronics' first 22nm microcontroller prototype

     Renesas Electronics announced the launch of the first microcontroller (MCU) based on the 22nm process. By employing advanced process technology, Renesas can provide users with superior performance and effectively reduce power consumption by reducing the core voltage. Advanced process technology also provides a richer degree of integration (such as RF, etc.), which can achieve the same function on a smaller bare chip area, resulting in a higher degree of integration of peripherals and storage.

     This first MCU, produced using the new 22nm process, expands Renesas' popular RA product family based on 32-bit Arm Cortex-M cores. The new wireless MCU supports Bluetooth Low Energy 5.3 (BLE) and integrates software-defined radio (SDR). With the goal of building long life cycle products, it provides users with solutions suitable for future applications. Whether during development or after deployment, end products can be upgraded with new applications or new Bluetooth capabilities to ensure compliance with the latest version of the specification.

     End product manufacturers can take advantage of the previously published complete feature set BLE specification for devices designed for direction-finding applications based on Bluetooth 5.1 Angle of Arrival (AoA)/Angle of Departure (AoD) functionality, or for products that add low-power stereo audio transmission via Bluetooth 5.2 synchronous channels. Developers now need only one chip to support all of these functions.

     Roger Wendelken, senior vice President of Renesas Electronics iot and Infrastructure Business Group, said: "Renesas Electronics MCU's strength is based on a broad range of product and manufacturing process technologies. "We are excited to announce the development of the first 22nm product in the RA MCU family, which will pave the way for the next generation of MCUS, helping customers validate their designs while ensuring long-term product availability." Our products continue to deliver performance, ease of use and the latest features to the market. This progress is just the beginning."

     Renesas combines the new 22nm MCU with other compatible devices in its portfolio to create a broad "portfolio of successful products." The "Portfolio of Successful Products" is an engineering-proven system architecture that seamlessly combines compatible Renesas devices to deliver optimized, low-risk designs that speed customers to market. Renesas now offers more than 300 "success portfolios" based on the various products in its product lineup, enabling users to shorten the design process and get their products to market faster.