New MCU group delivers low active power consumption

Renesas Electronics Corporation has expanded its RA4 Series MCUs with 12 new RA4M2 Group MCUs. The new devices produce an exceptional combination of high performance, very low power consumption, and enhanced security features that position them as excellent solutions for industrial and IoT applications.

The highly power-efficient group offer a market-leading operating current of only 80µA/MHz in active mode, and a low standby current of 0.7mA. Even with these leading specifications, the new devices provide a remarkably fast wakeup time from standby of 30µs. With operating frequencies up to 100MHz, the MCUs are excellent for performance-hungry, low power applications such as industrial and IoT edge devices.

The MCUs use the Arm Cortex-M33 core based on Armv8-M architecture. They feature Arm TrustZone technology and the company’s Secure Crypto Engine. The engine includes multiple symmetric and asymmetric cryptography accelerators, advanced key management, power analysis resistance, security lifecycle management, and tamper detection. This combination allows customers to obtain secure element functionality, facilitating safety and security in IoT edge devices for low-power applications.

“The RA4M2 MCU Group is the ideal solution for very low power IoT edge applications, combining high performance and security features with low power consumption,” said Roger Wendelken, senior vice president in Renesas’ IoT and Infrastructure Business Unit. “Our rollout of market-leading solutions within the RA Family is a testament to the design, manufacturing and marketing prowess that has made Renesas the pre-eminent MCU supplier worldwide.”

The group is supported by the easy-to-use Flexible Software Package (FSP), which incorporates a best-in-class HAL driver. The FSP employs a GUI to simplify and dramatically expedite the development process, while also making it simple for customers to transition from an original 8/16-bit MCU design. Designers employing the RA4M2 MCUs also have access to the comprehensive Arm partner ecosystem, providing a broad range of tools that help speed time-to-market.