New MCUs for portable devices such as data loggers and charge cases

Renesas Electronics Corporation has released the RA2L2 MCU group with ultra-low power consumption and the industry’s first support for the new UCB-C Revision 2.4 standard. Based on a 48MHz Arm Cortex M23 processor, the new MCUs provide a rich feature set that makes them ideal for portable devices and PC peripherals such as gaming mice and keyboards.

The new USB Type-C Cable and Connector Specification Release 2.4 has lowered voltage detection thresholds (0.613V for 1.5A source and 1.165V for 3A source). These MCUs are the industry’s first to support these new levels.

The MCUs employ proprietary low-power technology that delivers 87.5µA/MHz active mode and software standby current of just 250nA. They also provide an independent operating clock for the low-power UART, which can be employed to wake up the system when receiving data from WiFi and/or Bluetooth LE modules. Along with the USB-C support, this combination of features makes the MCUs the premier solution available for portable devices such as USB data loggers, charge cases, barcode readers and other products.

In addition to USB-C with CC detection up to 15W (5V/3A) and USB FS support, the new MCUs offer LP UART, I3C, and CAN interfaces, allowing designers to lower component count, save cost, board space, and power consumption.

The MCUs are supported by the company’s Flexible Software Package (FSP). The FSP enables faster application development by providing all the necessary infrastructure software, including multiple RTOS, BSPs, peripheral drivers, middleware, connectivity, and networking, and reference software to build complex AI, motor control, and cloud solutions. It enables customers to integrate their own legacy code and choice of RTOS with FSP, providing full flexibility in application development. The FSP eases the migration of existing IP to and from other RA devices.

“The RA2L2 Group MCUs are our first to realise full-speed USB along with USB-Type C connector support. They also ensure system costs remain low by reducing external components, and they offer the same low-power characteristics as our popular RA2L1 devices,” said Daryl Khoo, vice president of Embedded Processing Marketing Division at Renesas. “These new devices demonstrate our commitment and ability to quickly deliver the solutions our customers require.”

Key Features of the RA2L2 MCUs:

• Core: 48MHz Arm Cortex-M23
• Memory: 128-64KB Flash, 16KB SRAM, 4KB Dataflash
• Peripherals: USB-C, USB-FS, CAN, Low Power UART, SCI, SPI, I3C, I2S, 12-bit ADC (17-channel), Low Power Timer, Real-Time Clock, High-Speed On-chip Oscillator (HOCO), Temp Sensor
• Packages: 32-, 48- and 64-pin LQFP; 32- and 48-pin QFN
• Security: Unique ID, TRNG
• Wide Ambient Temperature Range: Ta = -40C to 125C
• Operating Voltage: 1.6V – 5.5V; USB Operating Voltage: 3V to 3.6V