STMicroelectronics' new STM32L4 microcontroller pushes the limits of performance for ultra-low power applications

     STMicroelectronics has combined its ultra-low power microcontroller technology with years of experience in ARM Cortex-M4 cores to create the STM32L4 series of microcontrollers for the next generation of energy efficient consumer electronics, industrial, medical and metrological products.

     The STM32L476 and STM32L486 are based on an 80MHz ARM Cortex-M4 processor core with a floating point unit (FPU) that supports DSP instructions. St's Adaptive Real-Time Accelerator (ART Accelerator™) is another added benefit of the new family of microcontrollers, enabling microcontrollers to execute code in flash memory without waiting, with processing performance of up to 100 DMIPS. The power consumption is only 100µA/MHz. Up to 1MB of dual-bank flash can support complex applications and read/write synchronization, and provides a 128KB Static Random-Access Memory (SRAM).

     The STM32L4 microcontroller leverages ST's wealth of low-power technologies, including dynamic voltage regulation that adjusts power consumption to different processing needs, an intelligent architecture with built-in FlexPowerControl and a power management mode with seven sub-mode options, including downtime, standby and a shutdown mode with a minimum power consumption of 30nA. St's Batch Acquisition Mode (BAM) enables processors to efficiently exchange data with communication peripherals in low-power mode.

     In the standardized ULPBench ultra low Power microcontroller performance comparison published by the Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium (EEMBC), The STM32L4 series of microcontrollers achieved the highest score in the industry with 123 points. "The STM32L4's 123 ULPBench score is one of the best in the industry today, demonstrating that designers can now achieve higher performance and greater storage capacity without sacrificing power," said Michel Buffa, general manager of ST's Microcontroller product group.

     The low overall power consumption, high performance and DSP capabilities of the Cortex-M4, intelligent analog capabilities, and rich digital interface capabilities make the STM32L4 series ideal for smart connected and Internet of Things (IoT) product applications, as well as a wide range of industrial, medical and consumer electronics products.