STM32's five new products are launched, and heavy investment is made to actively expand production capacity!

After a long epidemic, ST held its first press conference in Beijing this year, launching a number of products, covering the full range of products in the STM32 product family.

"These product launches represent ST entering a new era - the era of cloud connectivity and intelligent edge," said Julian, vice president of ST Microcontroller and Digital IC Product Division MDG Asia Pacific, IoT/AI Innovation Center and Digital Marketing. In the new era, more artificial intelligence algorithms or intelligence will run on the device side. As the number of connected devices increases, edge-side security identification, verification, and data protection will become more critical. For this reason, ST also focuses on intelligence, security, and connectivity in its long-term planning for microcontrollers and digital products.

ST has made such a strategic layout because it has felt the changes in the market at the forefront. Julian introduced that in the potential market of 32-bit general-purpose MCUs, the industrial market share will increase from 52% in 2021 to 65% in 2026. This growth will benefit from several important support points: the demand for home appliances to improve energy efficiency and networking, the demand for AI-based predictive maintenance in industrial automation, the demand for wireless power tools, the demand for electric vehicles, and the demand for smarter, safer, and more energy-efficient buildings. These demands will greatly promote the growth of general-purpose MCUs. STM32 MCUs and MPUs will also make further innovations and upgrades in security, wireless connectivity, and artificial intelligence.

A secure, flexible and resilient supply chain

Faced with the tight supply and demand situation in the industry, Julian also gave a direct response, saying that ST is actively expanding production capacity to ensure a safe, flexible and resilient supply chain. On the one hand, it is actively investing in internal production capacity, with capital expenditures of US$3.5 billion in 2022 and investment expected to exceed US$4 billion in 2023, a large part of which will be used to support STM32's capacity expansion at 90 nanometers and 40 nanometers. In addition to expanding internal production capacity, ST is also actively cooperating with multiple global foundries, which will support customer needs for the next four to six years or even longer. Regarding the resilience of the supply chain, Julian said that ST has sufficient supply chains or complete supply chains in major regions around the world, and can ensure that the performance parameters of products produced in different regions are exactly the same.

Five major products, born for demand

The products released in this issue include the wireless MCU STM32WBA, the STM32U5 with integrated low power consumption and high security, the STM32C0 that changes and improves the 8-bit MCU market, the high-performance MCU SM32H5, and the STM32MP1 which is an important layout in the MPU market.

STM32C0, your next 8-bit MCU

STM32C0 is aimed at cost-sensitive users and is very suitable for applications that usually use 8-bit/16-bit MCUs before, such as smart home (refrigerators, ovens, coffee machines, etc.), manufacturing equipment (industrial pumps, fan control, circuit breakers, smoke detection, fire detection, alarms, etc.) and consumer electronics (computer peripherals and accessories), which are the main target markets of STM32C0. Cao Jindong, director of ST Microcontroller and Digital IC Product Department in China, introduced that if these applications need to add some sensor signal acquisition, processing, AI algorithms, display, human-computer interaction and other functions that require stronger processing capabilities, it is obvious that 32-bit MCUs with comparable prices, higher performance and more ecological support are more ideal choices.

Cost is a very critical factor . The new STM32C0 is affordable and is the most economical among STM32 MCUs. From a cost perspective, ST hopes that customers can switch seamlessly.

With streamlined system costs , STM32C0 allows developers to achieve maximum design with minimal resources. The entire system is made more streamlined through built-in 1% accurate internal RC high-speed clock and only one external power supply.

9 packages are available for selection . For space-compact applications, STMC0 can provide three dimensions of packaging: SO8N, TSSOP-20, LQFP32/48, which are similar to 8-bit MCUs and easy to weld; UFQFPN, which is a slim and compact package; and WLCSP, which is the thinnest and smallest package.

The STM32 series continues . Although it is aimed at 8-bit MCU applications, the STM32C0 is unambiguous in performance. Based on the 48MHz Cortex-M0+ core, it reaches 44DMIPS and has a CoreMark score of 114 points. Compared with the STM8S, the performance has been improved by at least 10 times. For signal detection, filtering, and processing, the STM32C0 will be more comfortable. Cao Jindong shared a case, "There is a customer who makes smart curtains. He used STM8S for motor control and STM8 for remote control. Now he uses an STM32C0 to replace the previous STM8S and STM8, and it can better meet the customer's needs for performance and low power consumption."

Seamless migration with STM320G0 , consistent pin layout, same IP platform, same technology platform, enables STM32C0 to switch seamlessly with STM320G0.

The STM32C0 has a simple low-power architecture with extremely efficient low-power modes , including run, stop, standby or shutdown modes.

• Excellent dynamic power consumption in run mode, less than 80μA/MHz

• 80 to 605 µA stop mode, regardless of whether HSIKER is turned on or not; wake-up time depends on transfer and flash status

• 8µA Standby Mode

• Shutdown mode current as low as 20nA when wake-up time is not a major limitation

Since the HSI startup time and the default startup frequency are 12MHz, while the STM32G0 is 16MHz, the wake-up time on the STM32C0 is longer than that on the STM32G0.

Simple but not simplistic STM32C011/C031 block diagram , Cortex-M0+ core, 6-12KB SRAM, 1% internal clock, 12-bit ultra-high-speed ADC, etc., to support STM32C0 to do some more complex applications.

STM32C0 software and hardware support . Although STM32C0 is relatively simple, the evaluation board provided is not simple at all. ST provides the STM32031 Nucleo development board for prototype development, the micro evaluation board STM32C031 Discovery Kit, and the STM32C011 Discovery Kit for prototype verification or functional verification to help customers with rapid product verification and development cycles. In terms of software, ST's extensive software packages including PC software, embedded software, operating systems, middleware, etc. will continue to support STM32C0 to facilitate customer development or migration.

STM32H5, improve performance and information security

In embedded system design, a balance must be achieved between performance, security and cost in order to stand out in the fierce market competition. This requires general-purpose MCUs to have excellent cost-effectiveness and excellent security mechanisms. In order to achieve this goal, ST created the STM32H5.

The new STM32H5 series is based on the Cortex-M33 core, running at up to 250MHz, 375DMIPS, 1023CoreMark, and is the fastest Cortex-M33 product among STM32 products so far. It supports instruction and data cache (ART Accelerator) for internal and external memory, and supports math accelerators FMAC and Cordic, which can basically meet the needs of most industrial applications.

In terms of information security , STM32H5 provides customers with more flexibility from the most basic security building blocks to certified and maintained security services by ST. He Difan, senior manager of the general microcontroller business technology market in China, ST Microcontroller and Digital IC Product Department, introduced that taking the following figure as an example, the first layer can be understood as the security peripherals provided by STM32H5, such as secure storage, HUK, anti-side channel attack, symmetric encryption accelerator (AES) and asymmetric encryption accelerator (PKA), etc. The second layer means that if the customer needs to implement secure boot, the STM32H5 comes with secure boot software (boot ROM), which customers can use directly without developing a secure boot module themselves. The third layer is the Secure Manager supported by STM32H5, which integrates secure storage services, encryption and decryption services, authentication services, etc., covering most security functions. The target certification of Secure Manager is SESIP L3 and PSA L3. Through Secure Manager, customers can choose to implement:

To simplify the customer development process , Secure Manager provides turnkey SoC TEE security services and certified security deployment, reducing the complexity of using TrustZone. Long-term services and PSA API compatibility simplify the customer development process.

Supports seamless cloud/server connection . As cloud connections increasingly require mutual authentication, Secure Manager supports seamless cloud/server registration, pre-providing keys and certificates in compliance with PSA certification, making the process easier.

Enabling a variety of application scenarios , Secure Manager also has more flexibility to meet the needs of different customers, and can provide secure boot services, security upgrade services, encryption and decryption services, key IP protection services, authentication services, etc.

Speaking of application scenarios, He Difan introduced that the STM32H5 series simplifies the design of secure industrial applications. Applicable application scenarios include: smart homes, such as air-conditioning systems, refrigerators, and alarm systems; factory automation, such as PLC, motor control, and industrial pumps; smart city communication gateways, lighting control, and energy conversion; as well as consumer applications such as keyboards, tracking devices, and medical accessories.