High-performance high-end Cortex-M4 microcontroller

In the microcontroller market, ARM Cortex-M-based microprocessors have been growing rapidly in recent years. According to a report by Semicast Research in April 2011, the total shipment of Cortex-M MCUs reached 144 million in 2010. As time goes by, the application of 32-bit MCU products has become more and more common. Among them, STMicroelectronics' (ST) STM32 series MCUs have always performed quite well. The ARM Cortex-M shipment statistics report shows that from 2007 to the first quarter of 2011, the shipment of STM32 series MCUs accounted for about 45%. In other words, among the microcontrollers based on the Cortex-M core sold, almost one out of every two is an STM32.

In order to further consolidate the company's leading position in the 32-bit MCU market, STMicroelectronics has recently launched a new series of high-performance STM32 F4 microcontroller products. As a new product of the STM32 platform, the STM32 F4 series is based on the latest ARM Cortex-M4 core, adding signal processing functions to the existing STM32 microcontroller product portfolio and improving the operating speed.

STMicroelectronics' existing STM32 products are suitable for a variety of applications, including medical services, point-of-sale equipment (POS), building security systems and factory automation, home entertainment, etc. In addition, STMicroelectronics is using the new STM32 F4 series to further broaden the scope of applications. The single-cycle DSP instructions of the STM32 F4 will give rise to the digital signal controller (DSC) market, which is suitable for applications such as high-end motor control, medical equipment and security systems, which have high requirements in terms of computing power and DSP instructions. The new STM32 F4 series is fully pin- and software-compatible with the STM32 F2 series. If users of the STM32 F2 series want larger SRAM capacity, higher performance and faster peripheral interfaces, they can easily upgrade from the F2 to the F4 series. In addition, customers who currently use a two-chip solution of a microcontroller and a digital signal processor can choose the STM32 F4, which integrates the features of the traditional two chips in one chip.

In addition to pin and software compatibility with the high-performance F2 series, the F4 has a higher main frequency (168MHz) than the F2 series (120MHz), and supports single-cycle DSP instructions and floating-point units, larger SRAM capacity (192KB, F2 is 128KB), 512KB~1MB of embedded flash memory, and more advanced peripherals such as imaging, network interface and data encryption. STMicroelectronics' 90nm CMOS manufacturing technology and the ST real-time adaptive "ART accelerator" integrated in the chip achieve leading program running performance (168MHz) in zero-wait state and optimal dynamic power consumption.

It is reported that there are 4 products in the STM32 F4 series, namely STM32F405, STM32F407, STM32F415 and STM32F417. All products have been put into mass production.

Among them, STM32F405 integrates a complete set of advanced peripherals including timers, 3 ADCs, 2 DACs, serial interfaces, external memory interfaces, real-time clocks, CRC calculation units, and analog true random number generators, and has an additional built-in USB OTG full-speed/high-speed interface. The product uses 4 packages (WLCSP64, LQFP64, LQFP100, LQFP144) and has up to 1MB of built-in flash memory.

The STM32F407 adds several advanced peripherals based on the STM32F405 product: a second USB OTG interface (full speed only); a 10/100M Ethernet interface supporting MII and RMII, hardware supports IEEE1588 V2 protocol; an 8-14-bit parallel camera interface that can connect a CMOS sensor with a maximum transfer rate of 67.2Mbyte/s. The product uses 4 packages (LQFP100, LQFP144, LQFP/BGA176) and has built-in flash memory from 512KB to 1MB.

STM32F415 and STM32F417 add a hardware encryption/hash processor based on STM32F405 and STM32F407. This processor includes AES 128, 192, 256, Triple DES, HASH (MD5, SHA-1) algorithm hardware accelerators, and has excellent processing performance. For example, the AES-256 encryption speed reaches up to 149.33Mbytes/s.

STMicroelectronics also provides customers with a wide range of tools and software support, including the $349 STM3240G-EVAL evaluation board, which can help customers evaluate all the features of the product, and the $14.9 STM32 F4 experience kit (STM32F4DISCOVERY) for quick product evaluation and prototyping. In addition, there are many development environments in the STM32 and ARM software ecosystems for customers to choose from.

“The STM32 F4 series has attracted market attention for many reasons, most notably because it is the highest-performance Cortex-M microcontroller to date and is now available,” said Claude Dardanne, Vice President and General Manager of STMicroelectronics’ Microcontroller, Memory and Secure Microcontroller Division. “ST’s mass-produced STM32 microcontroller platform has more than 250 compatible devices, the industry’s best application development ecosystem, and excellent power consumption and overall functionality. The F4 series is the top of the STM32 family. ST’s Cortex-M microcontrollers currently have four product series: the STM32 F1 series, the STM32 F2 series and the STM32 L1 series, all of which are based on the Cortex™-M3 core; the new F4 series is based on the Cortex-M4 core.”

“ST’s decision to add the ARM Cortex-M4 core to its powerful microcontroller platform is a testament to the core’s low power consumption, advanced design and integrated digital signal controller,” said Lance Howarth, Executive Vice President of Marketing at ARM. “ST now has the industry’s broadest portfolio of products based on the ARM Cortex-M series, the fastest growing microcontroller architecture in the market. The STM32 F4 series will undoubtedly promote the use of ARM-based products by equipment manufacturers in a wide range of application areas.”

F4 Series Technical Advantages

• Adopt up to 7 AHB bus matrices and multi-channel DMA controllers to support parallel processing of program execution and data transmission, with extremely fast data transmission rate;

• Built-in single-precision FPU speeds up control algorithm execution, adds more functionality to target applications, improves code execution efficiency, shortens development cycles, reduces scaling and saturation loads for fixed-point algorithms, and allows the use of metalanguage tools;

• High integration: up to 1MB on-chip flash, 192KB SRAM, reset circuit, internal RC oscillator, PLL phase-locked loop, real-time clock below 1μA (error below 1 second);

• In battery or lower voltage powered applications that require high performance processing and low power operation, the STM32 F4 brings more flexibility to achieve high performance and low power consumption; including 4KB backup SRAM data is preserved in standby or battery backup mode; real-time clock power consumption is less than 1μA in Vbat mode; built-in adjustable regulator allows users to choose high performance or low power mode;

• Excellent development tools and software ecosystem: Provides a variety of integrated development environments, metalanguage tools, DSP firmware libraries, low-cost entry tools, software libraries and protocol stacks.

• Superior and innovative peripherals:

- Connectivity: camera interface, encryption/hashing hardware processor, IEEE 1588 v2 10/100M Ethernet interface, 2 USB OTG (1 of which supports high-speed mode);

- Audio: audio-specific phase-locked loop and 2 full-duplex I2S;

- Up to 15 communication interfaces (including 6 10.5Mbit/s USARTs, 3 42Mbit/s SPIs, 3 I2Cs, 2 CANs, and 1 SDIO);

- Analog peripherals: 2 12-bit DACs; 3 12-bit ADCs with a sampling rate of 2.4MSPS and 7.2MSPS in interleaved mode;

- Up to 17 timers: 16-bit and 32-bit timers, up to 168MHz frequency.

STM 32 F4 functional block diagram

 

    The STM32 F4 series is now in mass production.

     There are 4 products in the STM32 F4 series:

     STM32F405x: Integrates a complete set of advanced peripherals including timers, 3 ADCs, 2 DACs, serial interfaces, external memory interfaces, real-time clock, CRC calculation unit and analog true random number generator

The STM32F405 has an additional built-in USB OTG full-speed/high-speed interface. These products are available in 4 packages (WLCSP64, LQFP64, LQFP100, LQFP144) and have up to 1 MB of built-in flash memory.

     The STM32F407 adds several advanced peripherals to the STM32F405 product: a second USB OTG interface (full speed only); a 10/100M Ethernet interface supporting MII and RMII, hardware support for IEEE1588 V2 protocol; an 8-14-bit parallel camera interface that can connect a CMOS sensor with a maximum transfer rate of 67.2 Mbyte/s. These products are available in four packages (LQFP100, LQFP144, LQFP/BGA176) with built-in 512 KB-1 MB flash memory.

     STM32F415 and STM32F417 add a hardware encryption/hash processor based on STM32F405 and STM32F407. This processor includes AES 128, 192, 256, Triple DES, HASH (MD5, SHA-1) algorithm hardware accelerators, and has excellent processing performance. For example, the AES-256 encryption speed reaches up to 149.33Mbytes/s.