Date: 18/09/2009

16-bit MCUs with on-chip capacitive touch sensor IC

Renesas has announced the release of a new R8C/33T group of 16-bit MCUs that features an on-chip sensor control unit for capacitive touch sensors. The suggested applications of the new 16-bit MCUs are home appliances, mobile devices and portable music players.

Renesas is jointly developing capacitance touch sensor solutions with OMRON, and the single-chip implementation contributes to compact system size and reduce system development time.

The R8C/33T group is built around the R8C CPU core and delivers better performance and functions along with flexibility of use. The maximum operating frequency is 20 MHz and the operating voltage range from 1.8 V to 5.5 V.

The on-chip peripheral functions include,
Power-on reset function
Low-voltage detection function
Data transfer controller

And the key features are,

Supports compact and lower cost systems
The sensor control unit operates at a low frequency (4 MHz or 5 MHz) that reduces power consumption and the touch detection solution cuts the system power consumption to about 1/10.
During the touch detection operation, other system control tasks such as LED illumination and PWM output continue as with a conventional MCU.
Improved touch detection sensitivity

The R8C/33T group comprises three products, each with a capacitive touch sensor having 18 channels (max. 9 × 9 = 81 channels when matrixed) and up to 32/24/16 KB of on-chip flash memory.

Package: 32-pin LQFP (7 mm × 7 mm, 0.80 mm pin pitch) package
Availability: Sample shipments will begin in October 2009 in Japan.

For more details visit www.renesas.com