Renesas Electronics and Renesas Mobile Introduce SuperH™ Microcontroller Supporting High-Resolution Displays and Gigabit Ethernet

TOKYO, Japan, June 6, 2011 — Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), a premier provider of advanced semiconductor solutions, and its subsidiary, Renesas Mobile Corporation, an innovative supplier of advanced cellular semiconductor solutions and platforms, today announced the availability of its new 32-bit microcontroller (MCU), the SH7734, with improved graphics and network functionality for automotive, industrial and consumer applications that include an LCD panel. The SH7734 MCU features an Open VG conformant graphics accelerator and a Gigabit Ethernet controller.

The new SH7734 MCU features built-in Open VG 1.1 (Note 1) 2D graphics display functions, allowing animation-like displays to be implemented with minimal amounts of memory to improve human-machine interfaces (HMI) in application equipment. To provide high speed data communications, the SH7734 MCU also includes a built-in Ethernet controller with data rate of 1 gigabit-per-second (Gbps) To support higher performance systems and system miniaturization, 16 versions of the SH7734 are available including offerings with and without an SD memory card interface.

It has become increasingly common for equipment that includes a display to require advanced graphics functionality. In addition to higher performance and higher resolution LCD panels, more and more products, from OA equipment, home appliances, games, through security systems, also acquire information from multiple external sources over a network and display it in a variety of different ways. This has created a strong demand for graphics functions such as those in the Open VG to implement even more complex HMIs. To address these needs, single-chip solutions are demanded that not only provide high-functionality and high-resolution display functions and high-speed network connectivity, but also integrate powerful peripheral functions that can contribute to system miniaturization.

Whilst Renesas Electronics already mass produces MCUs with built-in display functionality and these products have been widely adopted in applications that include displays, Renesas Electronics meets the increased and future market demands by releasing the SH7734 MCU, which integrates both an Open VG conformant graphics accelerator and a Gigabit Ethernet controller.

Key features of the SH7734 MCU:

(1) Open VG conformant graphics accelerator for improved operability in end products

By including graphics display functions that conform to the Open VG 1.1 specifications, the SH7734 MCU can implement, with minimal memory and high speed, visual effects such as animated display as well as enlargement, rotation, deformation, and color gradation in figures and text.

The SH7734 also provides digital RGB output pins that can provide full-color (16.77 million colors) WVGA size (800 × 480) display or high-color (65,536 colors) XGA size (1024 × 768) display to support increases in size and resolution of end product screens.

(2) Built-in Gigabit Ethernet controller achieves high-speed data transfers

The SH7734 MCU includes an on-chip Gigabit Ethernet controller, GMII (Gigabit Media Independent Interface) that complies with the IEEE 802.3 (Note 2) standard. The built-in Ethernet interface supports data rates of 10 and 100 Mbps and can be also connected to 1 Gbps (1000 Mbps) Ethernet LANs.

The SH7734 MCU also incorporates a dedicated direct memory access (DMA) controller to reduce CPU overhead and enable smooth large capacity data transfers.

(3) Processing speed increased by approximately 1.6 times from Renesas Electronics' existing MCUs

The SH7734 MCU uses an SH-4A CPU core operating at 533 megahertz (MHz) and is approximately 1.6 times faster than the existing SH7764 MCU. The SH7734 MCU can quickly perform the audio processing, diverse display control operations, and signal processing required for high-functionality HMIs.

(4) Built-in DDR2 and DDR3 SDRAM memory controller

The SH7734 MCU includes a built-in memory controller that supports DDR2 and DDR3 SDRAM with a maximum clock frequency of 300 MHz The controller provides memory bandwidths up to 1.2 giga byte-per-second (GBps) to support large-capacity data transfers.

The SH7734 MCU will be available in 16 versions that differ in the combination of SD memory card interface, CAN (Note 3) interface, and other hardware features allowing system designers to select their optimum version for the specifications of a wide range of applications. The SH7734 MCU is provided in a lead-free 440-pin BGA package.

Renesas Electronics intends to expand its product offerings to respond to market needs for cost sensitive lower-end applications as well as higher performance systems.

The technologies of the new SH7734 MCU will continue to be applied to Renesas Mobile's future R-Mobile series of system on chips (SoCs).

(Note 1) Open VG:
A programming interface for 2D graphics processing for embedded equipment.

(Note 2) IEEE 802.3:
The Ethernet standard published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.

(Note 3) CAN (Controller Area Network):
An automotive network specification proposed by Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany).

Please refer to the separate sheet for the main specifications of the SH7734 MCU.

Pricing and Availability

Samples of the SH7734 MCU will be available in November 2011. Pricing varies depending on the SD memory card and CAN interface. For example, an MCU with both SD memory card interface and CAN interface (part number R8A77343PA0FBG) is priced at US$20 in sample quantities of 5,000. Mass production is scheduled to begin in March 2012 and is expected to reach a production volume of 100,000 units per month by September 2012. (Pricing and availability are subject to change without notice.)

(Remarks)
Open VG is a registered trademark of the Khronos Group. SuperH™ is a registered trademark or trademark of Renesas Electronics Corporation in Japan, the USA, and other countries. All other registered trademarks or trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

About Renesas Electronics Corporation

Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723) delivers trusted embedded design innovation with complete semiconductor solutions that enable billions of connected, intelligent devices to enhance the way people work and live. A global leader in microcontrollers, analog, power and SoC products, Renesas provides comprehensive solutions for a broad range of automotive, industrial, infrastructure, and IoT applications that help shape a limitless future. Learn more at renesas.com. Follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

The content in the press release, including, but not limited to, product prices and specifications, is based on the information as of the date indicated on the document, but may be subject to change without prior notice.