MCUs drive LCD and capacitive touch

Renesas’ RL78/L23 16-bit MCUs provide segment LCD control and capacitive touch sensing for responsive HMIs in smart home appliances, consumer electronics, and metering systems. Running at 32 MHz, these low-power MCUs include 512 KB of dual-bank flash memory, enabling seamless over-the-air firmware updates.

The MCUs offer an active current of 109 µA/MHz and a standby current as low as 0.365 µA, with a fast 1‑µs wakeup time. With a wide voltage range of 1.6 V to 5.5 V, they can operate directly from 5‑V power supplies commonly used in home appliances and industrial systems.

The reference mode of the integrated LCD controller reduces display power by approximately 30% compared to the RL78/L1X series. A snooze mode sequencer (SMS) enables dynamic segment updates without CPU intervention, further enhancing energy efficiency.

Development tools for the RL78/L23 include the Smart Configurator and QE for Capacitive Touch, which simplify system design and firmware setup. Renesas also provides the RL78/L23 Fast Prototyping Board, compatible with the Arduino IDE, and a capacitive touch evaluation system for hardware testing and validation.

RL78/L23 MCUs are available now from the Renesas website or distributors.

RL78/L23 product page 

Renesas Electronics 

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