STMicroelectronics introduces the new STM32L0 series of microcontrollers and a full-featured development ecosystem

     STMicroelectronics, the world's leading semiconductor supplier across multiple electronic applications, today announced the mass production of its ultra-energy-efficient ARM® Cortex-M0 + STM32L0 microcontrollers and a feature-rich development ecosystem to support the product family. Includes extremely low-cost development boards and free software tools to help developers fully control application energy consumption and minimize time to market.

     As the ideal microcontroller for energy-sensitive applications such as wearables, medical monitors, industrial sensors, and smart living devices, the STM32L0 series has a class-leading energy efficiency, achieving 135 ULPMarkTM-C certification and 158.7 ULPMarK-C with a DC converter [1]. In addition, ST's unique manufacturing process provides high temperature stability, ensuring the STM32L0 series has the lowest power consumption in its class at 125°C, combined with excellent energy efficiency and robustness.

     The STM32L0 series has three product lines: the STM32L0x1 basic product line, the STM32L0x2 USB product line (crystal free USB2.0 Full Speed), and the STM32L0x3 USB/LCD product line with integrated HMI modules. Storage capacities range from 8KB to 192KB FLASH, 20KB SRAM, and up to 6KB EEPROM. In addition, the new 14-pin package makes it the smallest STM32 microcontroller, allowing 32-bit performance into entry-level embedded applications.

     The main low power peripherals of the new STM32L0 product include a low power ADC, which consumes only 41µA at 12 bit resolution sampling 10,000 times/SEC, and an ultra-low power timer (16 bit timer), which can operate in ultra-low power mode; Low power modes include Stop mode, which consumes only 340nA when all RAM data is retained and automatic wake up is possible, and wake up from stop mode can achieve fast wake up in only 3.5µs. The new family also has an interconnect bus matrix that allows the system to continue processing data while the CPU is on standby to improve system efficiency.

     Software development tools include the STM32CubeMX and STM32CubeL0 middleware as well as firmware kits. The STM32CubeMX initialization code generator and microcontroller configurator provide easy usage wizards, including a power calculator, to help designers evaluate and fine-tune power budgets. The STM32CubeL0 includes a hardware abstraction layer (HAL) to simplify porting applications between pin - and code-compatible STM32 products. In addition, the STM32Snippet provides optimized code examples. STM32Cube offers over 200 free code examples. The STM32Cube tools are all free to use, as are the ST-Link debugger and DfuSe and Flash Loader tools to simplify testing of ROM booters.

     On-board 32-pin MCU Nucleo-32 development boards for evaluation of 16KB to 32KB STM32L0 microcontrollers, and on-board 64-pin Nucleo-64 development boards for evaluation of 64KB to 192KB STM32L0 microcontrollers, these low-cost prototype boards allow users to use only a small investment. Performance evaluation can begin. St also offers Discovery kits, including ePaper displays and evaluation boards with integrated inductive sensing circuits. Each board is loaded with a ST-Link hardware debugger that can access all the pins of the microcontroller, as well as Arduino-compatible connectors for easy motherboard expansion. ARM mbedTM compatibility gives developers free access to mbed.org's online tools.

     The STM32L0 family currently has more than 100 products, covering 8KB to 192KB of flash capacity and supporting third-party development tools such as KEILTM MDK-ARM, Ac6 System workbench, and GCC-based Atollic TrueSTUDIO Lite. Unlike other free IDE environments, these tools have no restrictions on the features and devices they support.