Renesas Electronics Corporation has released two new microcontroller groups, the RA8E1 and RA8E2, within their RA8 Series MCUs. Both implement the Arm® Cortex®-M85 processor, delivering 6.39 Coremark/MHz performance.

The RA8E1 operates at 360 MHz with 1MB Flash memory and 544 KB SRAM, including 32KB TCM with ECC and 512KB user SRAM with parity protection. The system includes 1KB standby SRAM and 32KB I/D caches. Interface options include Ethernet, Octal SPI, standard SPI, I2C, USBFS, and CAN-FD. The MCU features 12-bit ADC and DAC capabilities, temperature sensing, and an 8-bit CEU. The RA8E1 comes in 100/144 LQFP packages.

The RA8E2 runs at 480 MHz with 1MB Flash memory and 672 KB SRAM, incorporating 32KB TCM with ECC, 512KB user SRAM with parity protection, plus 128 KB additional user SRAM. The unit includes 1KB standby SRAM and 32KB I/D caches. It features a 16-bit external memory interface, Octal SPI, standard SPI, I2C, USBFS, and CAN-FD. The MCU includes 12-bit ADC and DAC capabilities, temperature sensing, GLCDC, and 2DRW functionality. The RA8E2 comes in a BGA 224 package.

Both MCUs utilize Arm Helium technology, providing 4X DSP and ML performance improvement compared to Arm Cortex-M7 processor-based MCUs. The systems support multiple power modes with independent power domains and feature low typical active and standby currents.

Development support includes Renesas’ Flexible Software Package with RTOS integration, BSP, peripheral drivers, middleware, connectivity, networking, and TrustZone support.

The RA8E1 and RA8E2 MCUs are currently available. A Fast Prototyping Board for RA8E1 is shipping now, with an RA8E2 Evaluation Kit including TFT Display scheduled for early Q1 2025.