Renesas 28nm-process on-chip
flash memory MCU: RH850/E2x Series

TOKYO, Japan, March 27, 2018 ― Renesas Electronics
Corporation (TSE: 6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor
solutions, today announced the sample shipment of the industry’s first on-chip
flash memory microcontroller (MCU) using a 28 nanometer (nm) process
technology. To contribute to the realization of next-generation green cars and
autonomous vehicles with higher efficiency and higher reliability, the
revolutionary RH850/E2x Series MCU incorporates up to six 400 megahertz (MHz)
CPU cores, which makes it the first on-chip flash memory automotive MCU to
achieve the industry’s highest processing performance (Note 1) of 9600 MIPS (Note 2). The new MCU series also features a built-in flash
memory of up to 16 megabytes (MB) as well as enhanced security functions and
functional safety.

Under Renesas autonomy™,
an open, innovative and trusted platform for assisted and automated driving,
Renesas provides end-to-end solutions that advance the evolution of vehicles
towards next-generation green cars, connected cars, and autonomous-driving
vehicles. The 28nm-generation automotive control MCU is a new breakthrough
product featuring next-generation technology for achieving vehicle control,
which, together with the R-Car Family of systems-on-chip (SoCs) designed for
cloud connectivity and sensing, constitute the two main pillars of the Renesas
autonomy Platform. Car OEMs and Tier 1 manufacturers, such as Denso
Corporation, have already started to adopt the new 28nm MCU, recognizing the
MCU’s superior processing performance capable of developing next-generation
fuel-efficient engines, as well as its unparalleled scalability as a platform
that addresses the expected electronic control unit (ECU) integration to come
from changes in automotive electrics/electronics (E/E) architecture.

High processing performance to
enable complex automotive control for green cars

To develop
environmentally-friendly vehicles, next-generation fuel-efficient engines
require high processing performance to allow the implementation of new fuel
combustion systems. In addition, both high processing performance and high
integration densities are required to achieve miniaturization and higher
efficiency in the motors and inverters used in electric vehicles (EV) and
plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV). The newly-developed 28nm-process flash
memory MCU is the world’s first to achieve up to six 400 MHz CPU cores and 9600
MIPS processing capabilities. Compared to the earlier 40nm MCUs, the new
RH850/E2x Series of MCUs also achieves approximately three times the
performance at the same power level. The RH850/E2x realizes increased automotive
control system integration by including enhanced sensor interfaces necessary
for precise automotive control functions. Multi-core virtual environments and
model-based development environments for the new MCUs will be available from
Renesas partner companies.

Advanced OTA updates with large
flash memory capacities for connected cars

Demand for built-in
large capacity flash memory is rising to support over-the-air (OTA)
functionality which automatically and wirelessly updates the ECU software to
control programs with improved safety. The RH850/E2x Series is equipped with up
to 16 MB of flash ROM and, to suit the user’s needs and preferences, it is
possible to only update certain arbitrary areas during program operation. The RH850/E2x Series also comes
with improved serial interfaces, including up to ten channels of CAN FD and one
Ethernet channel. Security functions that support Evita Medium enable the MCUs
to support safe and rapid OTA updating of the software.

Enhanced functional safety for
autonomous-driving vehicles

Targeting ASIL-D, the
highest level of the ISO 26262 functional safety standard for automotive E/E
systems, the RH850/E2x Series adopts the dual core lock step CPU structure that
guarantees that the calculations performed by two CPU cores are identical. The
RH850/E2x also provides up to four sets of CPU pairs, and features a variety of
hardware functional safety improvements. In applications where a system
malfunction could lead to life-endangering accidents, these features
immediately detect faults should a malfunction occur and allow system safety to
be maintained. Renesas will provide safety analysis tools that can flexibly
support a wide range of use cases to implement safe systems.

Following the
development of the 28nm embedded flash memory in February 2015, Renesas
announced its collaboration with TSMC on 28nm MCUs in September 2016. The
company today hit a major milestone by reaching sample shipment of the world’s
first 28nm embedded flash memory MCU on the market. Renesas has already
succeeded in verifying large-scale operation of fin-structure MONOS flash memorytargeting 16/14nm and beyond
generations of MCUs. As the leading supplier of automotive semiconductor
solutions, Renesas is committed to advancing the industry through continued
technological innovation to achieve a safe and secure automotive society.

To assure scalability in
the RH850/E2x Series, in addition to the 28nm flash memory MCU, Renesas has
also launched a 40nm process MCU featuring (1) and (3) described above. Samples
of this MCU are available now. Samples of both 28nm and 40nm MCUs from
RH850/E2x are scheduled to be available from March 2018.

MONOS is a structure in
which each transistor in the flash cell consists of three layers—oxide,
nitride, and oxide—on a silicon base, with a metal control gate at the top.
Renesas has accumulated more than two decades of experience in the use of MONOS
flash memory technology by providing MCUs for IC cards. Based on the track
record in MONOS technology, Renesas successfully extended the technology by
developing a split-gate (SG) structure suitable for MCU internal flash memory.
The new “SG-MONOS” –type flash memory realizes MCUs with high reliability, high
speed and low power consumption.

(Remarks)
Renesas autonomy is a trademark of Renesas Electronics Corporation. All
registered trademarks or trademarks are the property of their respective
owners.