SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 2, 2011-Renesas Electronics America Inc. today announced the addition of two new product groups within the R8C microcontroller (MCU) family, which incorporates Renesas Electronics’ innovative touch-sensor control unit (TSCU). The R8C/36T-A and R8C/38T-A product groups expand the number of touch channels to 28 and 36 respectively, and offer up to 128 kilobytes (KB) of program memory suitable for single-chip embedded designs.
The 18 new devices add a number of enhancements to the TSCU hardware block especially designed for touch-key sensing applications. The block supports up to 36 independently connected electrodes and can complete a full scan of all channels in less than 10 milliseconds (ms). The TSCU includes additional features for the rejection of electrical noise, such as fully automated random and majority-vote measurements for more reliable touch determination.
Furthermore, these devices add two hardware blocks that are new to Renesas Electronics’ R8C MCU family: the Event Link Controller (ELC) and the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) unit. The ELC connects events between peripheral modules to trigger operation without CPU intervention. The CRC unit offers the ability to perform error checking of built-in memory and communication data more efficiently, which is essential for safety standards such as IEC 60730. Both of these features provide the benefits of reduced interrupt processing, smaller code size and lower power consumption.
“Renesas Electronics continues to address the market’s demands for more efficient and robust touch-key applications, and these new devices are a great addition to the existing line-up,” said Ritesh Tyagi, director, microcontroller solutions marketing, Consumer & Industrial business unit, Renesas Electronics America. “The enhancements in the TSCU block along with the inclusion of advanced real-time control hardware, such as the ELC, will enable designers to develop more efficient systems while achieving richer and more reliable user interfaces.”
Evaluate Renesas Electronics’ Capacitive Touch-Key Solution
Users interested in evaluating the Renesas Electronics touch solution based on the R8C/33T MCUs can obtain an evaluation kit (P/N: YR8C33TKIT02) available directly from Renesas Electronics or from selected distribution partners. The kit includes a board with a keypad, and wheel and slider touch interfaces with periphery circuitry available to exercise other MCU features and perform power consumption measurement. The evaluation system also features the Renesas Electronics’ Touch Workbench utility, sample projects, E8a debug emulator, and the R8C MCU’s standard software tool suite including a free C Compiler (64KB version).
More details and the latest information about Renesas Electronics’ MCU-based capacitive touch solutions can be found athttp://am.renesas.com/capacitivetouch.
Availability
The R8C/3xT-A MCUs are sampling now for lead customers and are scheduled to be available for full promotion in Q4 2011. (Availability is subject to change without notice.)
Ranked #1 Supplier Worldwide for Microcontrollers
Renesas Electronics Corporation has again been ranked by Gartner as the number one MCU supplier worldwide for 8-, 16- and 32-bit microcontrollers based on revenue from shipments in 2010 in the March 2011 market share report.* More information about Renesas Electronics’ MCU offerings can be found at http://am.renesas.com/prod/mcumpu/.
About Renesas Electronics America Inc.
Renesas Electronics America Inc., headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), the world’s number one supplier of microcontrollers and a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions including microcontrollers, SoC solutions, and a broad range of analog and power devices. In the Americas, Renesas Electronics America markets and sells industrial-type active-matrix LCD modules from NEC LCD Technologies, Ltd., a global leader in innovative display technologies. More information about the products offered by Renesas Electronics America can be found at http://www.am.renesas.com/.
