STMicroelectronics released two new microcontrollers STM32L412 and STM32L422 with a focused feature set and compact size, to provide ultra-low power technologies and high performance to budget-conscious consumer, industrial, and medical applications.
Combining economical 64Kbyte or 128Kbyte Flash density with features such as ST’s FlexPowerControl (FPC), and the 80MHz Arm Cortex-M4 core, they set best-in-class EEMBC benchmarks for efficiency and performance: 273 CoreMark provides for speedy execution in devices like smart sensors or consumer wearables, while 167 ULPMark-PP (Peripheral Profile) and 447 ULPMark-CP (Core Profile) demonstrate category-leading energy management.
These benchmark figures can be turned into tangible product advantages, leveraging features such as the multiple reduced-power modes to maximize battery life. Analog peripherals including two ADCs to perform simultaneous acquisition and a comparator integrate more of the signal chain on-chip, for sensing or heart-rate monitoring. Moreover, extra package options including 5mm x 5mm LQFP32 or 2.58mm x 3.07mm WLCSP36, save component count and board space.
A choice of temperature grades, specified from -40°C to 85°C or 125°C, withstand tough conditions in industrial or medical applications. Flash error correction (ECC) and parity-checking hardware for on-chip SRAM enhance system safety. A Quad-SPI interface allows high-performance off-chip memory extension and there are rich peripherals for control and connectivity.
In addition, high dynamic efficiency ensures great performance in smart meters, drawing as little as 28µA/MHz. The integrated ADCs, anti-tamper inputs on battery and backup-power domains, a true random-number generator (TRNG), and support for AES-256 encryption in the crypto-enhanced STM32L422 ensure high accuracy and strong protection.
Leveraging dedicated extensions to the STM32 ecosystem including the STM32CubeL4 software package and STM32CubeMX initialization-code generator and power-consumption calculator, developers can start working with the new devices immediately. Two new Nucleo boards also join the ecosystem, including the NUCLEO-L412RB-P containing a 64-pin STM32L412 with step-down converter, and the NUCLEO-L412KB with a 32-pin STM32L412. The new devices come with ST’s 10-year product-availability assurance.
The STM32L412 and STM32L422 are in production now, with up to 128Kbyte Flash and 32-pin to 64-pin packages, priced from $1.51 for the STM32L412K8U6 with 64KByte Flash in QFN-32, for orders of 10,000 pieces per year.
