Renesas has introduced a 90nm 120MHz 32bit automotive microcontroller.

"It achieves a processing performance of 240 million instructions per second when operating at 120 MHz," said Renesas. “This enables fine-grained and sophisticated real-time control of engine or transmission systems. It supports 120MHz operation at temperatures up to 125ºC, something that is difficult to achieve in a flash MCU while power consumption is 350mW or less."

The SH72531 is built around the firm's SH-2A core and has 1.25Mbyte of on-chip flash.

"Typically, due to their method of operation, flash memories have a lower maximum operating speed than the logic block," said the firm. "Nevertheless, the SH72531 achieves a memory operation speed of 100MHz."

A cache circuit is claimed to delivers performance roughly equivalent to single-cycle access from flash when running at 120MHz.

32kbyte of on-chip flash memory is allocated for EEPROM-like data storage as it can be overwritten while the chip is operating.

"By specifically selecting the on-chip peripheral functions based on actual requirements, it was possible to fit the SH72531 into a 176pin LQFP package, in contrast to the 272pin P-BGA of its predecessor, the SH72544R," said Renesas. "Software developed for the SH72544R can be reused when developing systems incorporating the SH72531."

More information: www.renesas.eu