Renesas Electronics, a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, today introduced four 16-bit microcontroller (MCU) products that support slave device operation in the IO-Link communication standard for miniature sensors and actuators used in industrial systems.
The new MCUs combine Renesas Electronics' 16-bit MCU, the 78K0R, and an IO-LINK transceiver in a 4 × 7 millimeter (mm) BGA (ball grid array) package, featuring a 56 percent reduction in size compared to the company's existing 8 × 8 mm QFN (quad flat package) products. The four MCUs have built-in flash memory of 32 KB (µPD78F8040F1), 64 KB (µPD78F8041F1), 96 KB (µPD78F8042F1), and 128 KB (µPD78F8043F1).
The new MCUs will make it possible to implement the sensor control circuit board inside a case the same width as the M8 connector (8 mm diameter) used with miniature sensors. This will make it possible to develop miniature sensors regardless of the previous size limitation imposed by the connector outer diameter.
As functionality and performance increase in industrial sensors and actuators, even higher level and more complex communication are used between the control equipment and the sensors and actuators in industrial equipment, such as optical and proximity sensors. Concerns have been raised, however, about problems such as many of the communication standards used in industrial equipment being proprietary to the manufacturer and these standards having inadequate functions for diagnosis of sensors and other equipment or for setting parameters.
IO-Link is a standard for communication between industrial system control units (master devices) and sensors or actuators (slave devices) that was created to resolve these problems. IO-Link is compatible with existing industrial networks such as Fieldbus and Industrial Ethernet. It makes possible both communication of sensor and actuator data as well as settings and diagnostics on those devices, and it also takes interfacing with existing sensors into consideration. Thus it provides features that can support increasing sophistication and complexity in existing sensor communication systems.
Given this background, there have been increasing demands from industrial equipment users for MCUs that can easily provide IO-Link functions and Renesas Electronics introduced products that combined an MCU and an IO-Link transceiver in a single 8 mm × 8 mm QFN package in September 2009. The new MCUs were developed to respond to needs for even further miniaturization.
These new products provide the following features.
(1) Package size reduced by 56 percent compared to the company's existing MCUs
Renesas Electronics has developed a new miniature package that meets the requirement from miniature sensors. The new MCUs are equipped in a 4 × 7 mm BGA package that features a size reduction of 56 percent from the earlier 8 × 8 mm QFN package. Furthermore, the BGA ball arrangement is designed as two concentric cycles for easier connection to all pins when mounted on the circuit board. In addition to reducing the part count by implementing both the MCU and the transceiver in a single device, mounting these devices in the new miniature package makes it possible to mount a control circuit on a small circuit board with limited space.
(2) Incorporate 16-bit 78K0R MCU to realize high functionality and high performance for miniature sensors and actuators used in industrial systems
By incorporating the 78K0R MCU with 20 MHz processing speed, the new MCUs enable higher speed data transfer between the control equipment and the sensors and improved real-time processing performance.
(3) Built-in memory devices and extensive variety of peripheral functions addressing various system demands
With 32 KB and 128 KB of flash memory (FAM) and 4 KB and 7 KB of SRAM, the new MCUs allow system designers to flexibly respond to signal processing of various sensors. The new MCUs also include A/D converters and serial interfaces that realize connectivity with various sensors. In addition, the built-in DMA (direct memory access) function enables efficient data-processing and communication processing.
(4) Compact size development kit provided to make system development with these new products easier
Renesas Electronics provides a development kit for miniature sensors with a circuit board size of 6 × 30 mm that presumes miniature sensor equipment with the same size as an M8 connector. The new development kit can reduce the development time for miniature sensor equipment and make it possible for users to provide IO-Link support quickly.
The new MCUs have been developed in cooperation with ELMOS Semiconductors AG (Germany), a major manufacturer of analog semiconductors, with the goal of providing the worldwide market with system ICs that incorporate analog semiconductor technology. The development kit has also been developed in cooperation with TMG Karlsruhe (Germany), a company with a proven track record in IO-Link system development.
Renesas Electronics positions the new MCUs as devices that facilitate system designers to incorporate IO-Link functionality into their products. Renesas Electronics will continue to respond to market needs by offering new MCUs aiming to enable even further end miniaturization for the system designers.
