STM32H7 - High Performance MCUs with Arm Cortex-M7 and M4 Cores

STMicroelectronics released new STM32H7 Arm Cortex-M general-purpose MCUs, combining dual-core punch with power saving features and enhanced protection. The new MCUs feature the 480MHz version of the Cortex-M7, which is highest performing member of Arm’s Cortex-M family and add a 240MHz Cortex-M4 core. The MCUs have set the new high speed records with ST’s smart architecture, efficient L1 cache, and adaptive real-time ART Accelerator. The cores can be turned off individually when not needed which further maximizes energy efficiency.

The STM32H7 microcontroller gives ease to developers to easily upgrade existing applications through flexible use of the two cores. By migrating legacy code to the STM32H7 Cortex-M4 with the new GUI running on the Cortex-M7, developers can also add a sophisticated user interface to an application such as a motor drive formerly hosted on a single-core Cortex-M4 MCU. The code development is further simplified using dual core architecture. 

For security, the MCUs come with pre-installed keys and native secure services including Secure Firmware Install (SFI). SFI allows customers order standard products anywhere in the world and have the encrypted firmware delivered to an external programming company without exposing unencrypted code. The OTA upgrades and patches are secured with built-in support for Secure Boot and Secure Firmware Update (SB-SFU). 

The MCUs offer advanced features such as Error Code Correction (ECC) for all Flash and RAM memory to increase safety, multiple advanced 16-bit analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). In addition the MCUs are able to withstand in external ambient-temperature up to 125°C which helps its operation in severe environments. Multiple FD-CAN controllers and Ethernet Controller gives the communication-gateway capabilities. The latest high-resolution timer helps generating precision waveforms. 

For development, ST has extended the STM32Cube ecosystem by adding STM32CubeH7 firmware modules with application source code, including graphical solutions based on TouchGFX and STemWin graphical-stack library. The new Evaluation, Discovery, and Nucleo boards are also available. Developers can take the benefit of all the standard elements of the STM32Cube development environment including the ST-MC-SUITE motor-control toolkit, STM32Cube-AI machine-learning toolkit, STM32CubeMX, STM32CubeProgrammer and certified partner solutions for STM32.