Renesas Electronics RH850/E2x Series on-chip flash memory microcontroller

Renesas Electronics has announced what is claimed to be the industry’s first on-chip flash memory microcontroller (MCU) using 28 nm process technology. The RH850/E2x Series MCU incorporates up to six 400 MHz CPU cores, achieving processing performance of 9600 MIPS.

Compared to the earlier 40 nm MCUs, the series is said to achieve approximately three times the performance at the same power level. It realises increased automotive control system integration, according to Renesas, by including enhanced sensor interfaces necessary for precise automotive control functions.

The series is equipped with up to 16 MB of flash ROM and, to suit the user’s needs and preferences, it is possible to only update certain arbitrary areas during program operation. The series also comes with improved serial interfaces, including up to 10 channels of CAN FD and one Ethernet channel. Security functions that support Evita Medium enable the MCUs to support safe and rapid OTA updating of the software.

Targeting ASIL-D, the highest level of the ISO 26262 functional safety standard for automotive E/E systems, the series adopts the dual core lock step CPU structure that ensures that the calculations performed by two CPU cores are identical. The series also provides up to four sets of CPU pairs and features a variety of hardware functional safety improvements. In applications where a system malfunction could lead to life-endangering accidents, these features immediately detect faults should a malfunction occur and allow system safety to be maintained.