Date: 14/01/2013

ST maintains chain of 8-bit to high performance 32-bit MCU offerings

8 bit MCU usage is not going to abruptly end, for the simple reason of its simplicity and low cost. However the need of high performance is making 8-bit a less preferred and also 32-bit processor cores such as ARM Cortex M0 is matching by simplicity and cost to 8 bit MCU and the reward is higher performance. So this technology trend is helping MCU developers to offer both 8-bit and 32-bit MCUs, giving customer the freedom to choose. One such vendor, who has broad offerings of MCUs for both commercial and industrial applications is ST Microelectronics. Here is the explanation provided by Frank Martins, MCU Marketing Manager, South Asia, ST Microelectronics of such disrupt-free offering by ST.

There are two topics according to Frank Martins, He says “ one such topic is the continuity, ST is bringing in the proliferation of its value line concept, We have reduced number of packages, reduced number of part numbers and somehow reduced performance and features but without never compromising with the functionality of the microcontrollers. So through this strip down exercise we are able to come out with microcontrollers both 8-bit and 32-bit, which are at extremely competitive pricing, fit and answer to the customer requirement that are developing applications which are very cost sensitive, so through this offer from ST, they have the possibility to fulfill their technical requirement in terms of application and they can also meet the cost budget/constrains they have for these applications.

So, proliferation of these family is going on, now with the renewal of the STM8L value line which is basically the 8-bit ultra low-power version of the already existing family called STM8S, STM8L is its own value line product available for the India market.

So this is further reinforced by the availability now of the complete cortex M0 32-bit(MCU) now, we have moved now from 8-bit to32-bit, still keeping these particular proliferation of microcontroller solution from ST for cost sensitive applications.

But on the 32 bit side and this is today very well addressed by the STM32F0 which is the 32 bit ARM cortex M0 version is offered in series of product lines F050 F051 and the next to come in Q1 next year (in 2013) is F052 which will have enhanced features and performance such as USB.

So you have value line for 8 bit (both standard and low power), while moving on the 32 bit family size, you have also very cost effective entry point with STM32F0 and then whatever your needs are beyond this, will be completely addressed and fulfilled by F1 series, F2 series and all and that “

Second topic(What’s new in the high performance side):
On the upper side of the family, we have now two STM32F family products using cortex M4 processor, one is present F4 itself and the other is newer F4 with 2 MB of flash memory and 296 KB of SRAM , an extension of the existing MCU with 1 MB of flash and 256KB of SRAM. Also in this range available with additional features such as TFT LCD controller, DMA, 2D graphic engine. Support for USB 2, Ethernet, CAN, Camera interface, Crypto engine, Hash processor, and hash co processor.


Frank Martins also answered queries on these below market and technology trends in MCU:

Processors and MCU for automotive domain: In terms of automotive, we have a big product line. We have STM8H for body control application, it means all what has to do with body electronics, when it comes to engine, when it comes to power train, safety, you know all these are the area of 32 bits micro controller which today are not available within the MCD division.
And high performance side we have very complete and powerful micro controller product based on Power PC architecture. This is part of APG group, automotive product group of ST.

Microcontroller market in 2013:

It is bound to grow unless there is a big contraction overall of the economy and the market for 2013, otherwise wherever the economy is growing you know the microcontroller will grow. The demand for embedded you know, electronic is increasing everywhere, for all kind of applications.

Less revenue growth more unit shipment growth:
The dollar value is depending upon your ability to manage your profits, your margin. So you know it’s through that by definition, the high-end product are usually of higher margin but they are also less volume. So it’s just always a trade off between volumes and price.

Need of RTOS:
We do have (RTOS for STM32 family) open Source RTOS. There are free versions as well as licensed versions. RTOS saves the complexity of the design. Open and third party RTOS is better than the proprietary RTOS from MCU vendor.
Author: Srinivasa Reddy N