STMicroelectronics, a global semiconductor manufacturer, serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, has unveiled new microcontrollers (MCUs) targeting the coming electrified drivetrains and domain-oriented,over-the-airupdateable systems that are the foundation of the next generation of EVs. As the vehicles generate, process, and transfer large data flows, especially to support the next generation of EVs, ST’s new Stellar P automotive MCUs are the industry’s first qualifiable devices for model year 2024 vehicles to integrate the new CAN-XL in-car communication standard. This technology enables the new vehicle platforms to handle growing data flows so the car can operate at peak performance.
“The real-time, power-efficient Stellar P6 automotive microcontrollers combine advanced integration of motion-control and energy-management domains with actuation capabilities, ensuring a smooth shift from traditional ICEs/EVs to new drive-traction architectural patterns of software-defined vehicles,” said Luca Rodeschini, Automotive and Discrete Vice President, Strategic Business Development and Automotive Processing and RF General Manager, STMicroelectronics. “As the automotive industry begins work on new vehicle platforms for model-year 2024, ST is ready with the microcontrollers to support development and ease the transition to vehicle production.”
ST’s Stellar family of automotive MCUs has been designed to support carmakers and Tier1s as they transition toward software-defined vehicles. Stellar now includes multiple series:
- Stellar E series assures fast real-time control and system miniaturization in power-conversion applications, maximizing the benefits of SiC and GaN power technology in EVs’ on-board charging, DC-DC converters, and traction inverters, among other applications.
- Stellar G series MCUs act as a secure data HUB and real-time, safe aggregator of functions within the body domain primarily for zonal architectures. This series implements best-in-class OTA updates, low-power modes, and data routing over a broad set of in-car communication protocols.
- The new Stellar P series of automotive MCUs offers qualifiable devices that combine advanced actuation capabilities with powerful function integration. Stellar P devices target the new drivetrain trends for electric vehicles and domain-oriented architectures, for the best real-time performance and energy management.
Samples of Stellar P6 are available now for model-year 2024 vehicles.
Technical information
Manufactured in ST’s own wafer fabs using power-efficient 28nm FD-SOI technology, the Stellar P6 embeds up to 20 Mbytes of Phase Change (non-volatile) Memory (PCM). Developed and tested according to stringent automotive requirements for high-temperature operation, radiation hardening, and data retention, ST’s PCM also delivers faster access time through single-bit overwrite, a feature unavailable in Flash. In addition, over-the-air updates with no downtime leverage a game-changing mechanism that saves memory by dynamically allocating memory space to the new downloaded software image until it is validated. This happens while the rest of the memory executes the running application in real-time.