STMicroelectronics introduces a new STM32 microcontroller series aimed at improving entry-level performance for smart devices.

STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader whose customers span the entire spectrum of electronic applications, announces a new generation of entry-level microcontrollers (MCUs) designed to enhance the performance of billions of small smart devices in factories, homes, cities and infrastructure, while meeting extreme cost, size and power consumption constraints.

The new STM32C5 series targets consumer and professional devices such as smart thermostats, electronic locks, smart industrial sensors, robotic actuators, wearables and computer peripherals.

" The new STM32C5 raises the bar for accuracy, speed, and reliability of microcontrollers offered at competitive prices to fully exploit the potential of these opportunities. It builds on two decades of STM32 expertise and is part of our ambition to offer the broadest, most scalable, and most secure portfolio, from entry-level devices to advanced microcontrollers that are redefining the scope of embedded systems ," said Patrick Aidoune, Group Vice President and General Manager of the General Purpose and Automotive Microcontrollers Division, STMicroelectronics .

Thanks to an improved design based on ST's proprietary 40nm manufacturing process, STM32C5 microcontrollers can perform tasks significantly faster than many entry-level chips used today. This provides products with greater headroom to incorporate modern features such as enhanced sensing, smoother control, and a richer user experience, while maintaining low power consumption under dynamic load.

The STM32C5 microcontrollers incorporate built-in protections that help secure products against tampering attempts and cyber risks. These security features contribute to making connected devices more secure, a growing priority in both consumer and industrial markets.

Users of the new STM32C5 series can benefit from an enhanced STM32Cube environment, now featuring production-grade, size-optimized drivers that take full advantage of the hardware's many features. The modernized ecosystem also introduces improved code generation and development tools, along with an expanded set of production-ready software examples. With continuous updates, the STM32Cube environment aims to help developers code faster and more efficiently, while maximizing the capabilities of the final product.

" At SIT, we work in safety-critical gas and HVAC environments where reliability is essential. For our new generation of integrated burner control platform, the STM32C5 was a natural choice because it offers robust and predictable real-time performance, allowing us to manage combustion, flame detection, and safety devices precisely, even in a compact form factor. We were able to reuse much of our validated firmware, accelerating development and simplifying certification; the result is a robust and scalable control platform designed for long-term reliability and compliance ," explained Dennis Agnello, Electronics Business Line Director, Heating & Ventilation, SIT Group.

" The STM32C5 offers the performance and features that allow us to develop a new generation of cost-effective AC chargers for both public and private use, fully compliant with the latest security, encryption, and interface requirements for electric vehicle metering and charging solutions. Throughout the project, ST provided the flexibility and comprehensive support from its ecosystem that we needed to reduce development time and resolve key functional and cost challenges in order to bring our product to market faster ," said Enrique Osorio, R&D Director, Circontrol (Grupo Circutor).

The STM32C5 microcontrollers are currently entering production, with packages ranging from 3 mm x 3 mm UFQFPN20 to 20 mm x 20 mm LQFP144. STM32 Nucleo evaluation boards, as well as a Riverdi display expansion board with TouchGFX development software for creating entry-level graphical user interfaces, are available to facilitate development.

Prices start at $0.64 for orders of 10,000 units.

Technical Information:

The new STM32C5 microcontrollers leverage an innovative implementation of the advanced Arm® Cortex®-M33 embedded processor. While the Arm core delivers advanced performance and efficiency, ST's proprietary 40nm manufacturing process is cost-optimized, supports higher clock speeds, and enables memory exceeding 512KB, where lower-density technologies are less competitive. STM32C5 microcontrollers integrate onboard Flash memory starting at 128KB, making Cortex-M33 performance affordable for entry-level applications typically limited to the lower-performing Cortex-M0 and Cortex-M23 devices. The devices are available with up to 1MB of memory, providing ample space for code and data storage, allowing product designers to create sophisticated new features.

The implementation of the Arm Cortex-M33 core using 40nm technology brings improved arithmetic performance to entry-level devices at a competitive cost and with low power consumption. This accelerates calculations such as onboard digital filtering for sensor signal conditioning, noise suppression, and debouncing. Furthermore, the power supply design, featuring a single low-dropout (LDO ) regulator, frees up additional I/O pins for the user. Direct Memory Access (DMA) is also included, which helps save power, improve system responsiveness, and simplify software. Additionally, with two instances, each offering at least four channels for two parallel accesses, DMA on the STM32C5 is a valuable tool for developers to enhance the performance of their applications.

The microcontrollers are designed for SESIP3 and PSA Level 3 security certifications, with memory protection, tamper protection , cryptographic engines (symmetric encryption with AES and hashing algorithm), and high-definition protection (HDP) to protect processes such as secure boot and firmware updates. The STM32C59x and STM32C5A3 variants offer additional security features including hardware unique key (HUK) management, secure key storage, and hardware cryptographic accelerators for symmetric and asymmetric operations, along with protection against side -channel attacks .

Designed for demanding industrial environments, this device delivers robust performance even under challenging network conditions. It supports a wide ambient temperature range of -40°C to 125°C, with a junction temperature of up to 140°C. Even at maximum operating temperature, the device can operate at its maximum rated frequency, ensuring consistent performance across the entire temperature range. The STM32C5 helps comply with industrial safety standards, including IEC 61508 SIL-2 and IEC 60335-1/60730-1 Class B, through the integration of essential hardware and software features.

Improvements to the development ecosystem include a new version of the STM32CubeMX, the STM32CubeMX2, which introduces a preview function for faster access to reference code, thus accelerating development and facilitating code reuse. Also new to the STM32CubeC5 embedded software offering is the latest Hardware Abstraction Layer 2 (HAL2), which provides access to the full range of microcontroller functionality and allows more microcontroller memory to be used for application code.

Alex Fabre, embedded software expert at RTONE, an authorized ST partner , tested the new tools and commented: " The STM32 HAL2 makes development with the STM32C5 and other members of the family faster and more efficient. It is much lighter, closer to hardware functions, and porting our code to other STM32 microcontrollers is extremely easy."

The complete ecosystem also offers developers:

STM32C5 hardware evaluation tools enabling faster prototyping and providing recommendations for reference hardware design

A new example library provides faster access to a large number of production-ready STM32C5 code examples, simplifying the use of STM32C5 features and accelerating development.

The choice between two free integrated development environments ( STM32CubeIDE and STM32CubeIDE for VSCODE ) for faster development and debugging

The STM32Cube ecosystem with optimized porting of popular middlewares including FreeRTOS, LwIP, USBX and FileX. 

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