Renesas claims the industry's fastest embedded flash microcontroller

The SH7216 group consists of 72 devices offering variations in on-chip memory capacity, package type, and whether or not FPU (floating point processing unit) and/or Ethernet functions are included. The device features 200 MHz operating frequency, making it the industry’s fastest embedded flash microcontroller. It also includes an extensive set of built-in peripherals and communication interfaces.

The main features of this family are summarised below.

Improved real-time control performance with the industry’s fastest flash microcontroller

The SH7216 is powered by a 32-bit SH-2A superscalar core. Selected devices also include 400MFLOPS single and double precision floating point unit. Due to the superscalar core which executes two instructions simultaneously, the device can achieve up to 400DMIPS.

The SuperH family has already achieved several industry records. First, it has the best MIPS to mm3 ratio, making it the fastest MCU in the smallest package. Second, its 3.75MB flash microcontroller is currently the largest embedded flash device available. Third, the new SH7216 offers the fastest performance on the market at 200MHz.

The device includes the improved ultra-fast MONOS (Metal Oxide Nitride Oxide Silicon) embedded Flash. This enables fully deterministic zero-wait operation with 10ns access time. The CPU clock runs at 200MHz and is not delayed by flash access, resulting in excellent performance with no wait states or cache misses.

Improved system reaction with fast IRQ response time

The core’s CPU registers are now arranged in “banks”, with the 16 registers being mirrored 15 times. Using this technique, a subroutine can use a second set of registers leaving the current ones ready for use upon return from the subroutine. This means that the registers do not need to be popped onto and back from the stack, providing a quicker return from the subroutine. As a result, the response time to an interrupt request (IRQ) is as quick as a simple branch instruction. At 200MHz this would be 30ns. For inverters and real time control systems, the combination of a fast core and low reaction time means that the SH7216 provides a level of performance and precision that could previously only be achieved by using ASIC or a dedicated /DSP coprocessor.

Extensive set of peripheral and communication functions

In addition to the typical serial communication functions, this microcontroller family also features a diverse set of interfaces, including Ethernet, CAN, and USB 2.0. These features eliminate the need for external communication controllers in applications such as office automation equipment, and various other types of industrial communication applications. They also give the SH7216 a broader appeal for general purpose connectivity applications.

Optimal functions for industrial equipment

The SH7216 also includes two advanced motor control timer units (MTU2 and MTU2S) that can control two motors simultaneously and enable multi-axis servo control with high precision. They also include two 12-bit A/D converters that can perform conversions in as little as 1 µs. This combination of timer and A/D converter makes the SH7216 suitable for controlling BLAC / BLDC motors using the most advanced control techniques.

In addition, this microcontroller provides a wide range of other peripheral functions, including data flash for non-volatile data storage and data transfer controller and DMAC to reduce the CPU load. The data flash memory incorporates background operation (BGO) functionality that enables data to be written at the same time a program is executing. This means that the CPU is not slowed down by this process, making it ideal for backup and saving the cost of an external EEPROM.

The features of the SH7216 family

The SH7216 group adopts the SH2A-FPU, which adds an FPU function into the SH-2A CPU core, and can perform double precision floating point operations at speeds up to ten times faster than previous products. This new family also provides up to 1 MB of high-speed flash memory to store the increasingly large programs associated with the higher functionality required. This new group also provides up to 128 KB of on-chip RAM, eliminating the need for external SRAM or SDRAM. This can contribute to miniaturisation and lower costs in application systems.

In these applications, high-speed communication functions have become indispensable along with the increasing performance. As industrial equipment must now support multiple high-speed communication protocols, earlier communication interfaces have now become insufficient, in terms of both functionality and communication bandwidth. While Renesas provides a product line of high-speed communication interfaces, such as Ethernet and USB, as products for use in ASSP devices, in the SH7216, these interfaces are integrated on the same chip. These microcontrollers also include a CAN controller to enable a wide range of industrial communication protocols. The Ethernet interface includes a media access controller (MAC*3) that conforms to the IEEE 802.3*4 standard, and can connect to a 10 or 100 Mbps Ethernet.

These devices are available in 176-pin LQFP (24 × 24 mm), 176-pin LQFP (20 × 20 mm), and 176-pin BGA (13 × 13 mm) packages.

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