16-Bit dedicated contactless smart card microcontroller for payment and ID applications

The device’s CPU, memory, and peripheral functions are suited to contactless smart card applications. The AE41R incorporates a high-security, low power consumption AE-4 CPU core with a 16-bit and internal bus width, enabling current AE-4 Series product software resources to be used. Also included, 2Kbytes EEPROM and 36Kbytes mask ROM are configured to suit contactless payment and ID applications. Renesas Technology’s well-established proprietary MONOS (Metal Oxide Nitride Oxide Silicon) EEPROM is used, providing a high level of reliability.

The AE41R features a coprocessor supporting the DES (Data Encryption Standard) encryption standard widely used in the contactless payment and ID fields. It is provided as an encryption function, enabling high-speed contactless encryption operations.

The AE41R is the first Renesas product with a contactless interface to use a 0.18μm process. This has enabled the EEPROM write speed to be improved by approximately 25% compared with current Renesas products, helping to shorten processing times.

Smart cards are becoming increasingly popular for use as counterfeit-resistant payment cards such as credit cards and prepaid cards, while demand is also growing for the use of smart cards for office entry and similar ID card applications to prevent problems such as leakage of information. Considerations of user convenience and ease of operator maintenance have led to demands for such smart cards to be of the contactless type.

Renesas offers products with both contact and contactless interfaces in its AE-4 Series microcontrollers equipped with a 16-bit CPU core.

Typical applications for the AE41R are smart cards, embracing contactless type credit cards, prepaid cards, electronic money cards, ID cards, etc.

The AE41R is shipped in wafer form, and sample shipments begin in June 2007. As with current Renesas products, the E6000 full emulator is available as a development tool.