The STM32H750 is an interesting MCU : at 480 MHz it’s one of the fastest Cortex-M7 devices in existence but it’s also one of the least complicated because it only has one core. That also makes it cheap. And this makes it a very good chip to be proficient with.
Other advantages include SMD packaging options that can be soldered by hand (unlike BGA) and are easy to design boards for. It also requires very few external components while providing a huge selection of internal peripherals and interfaces.
A less obvious advantage of its low cost is that it encouraged the Chinese to put out a number of standalone modules, for prices between 10 and 15 Euros. After careful consideration, I chose this one :
My selection criteria were :
- This module isn’t designed with a specific application in mind. Meaning : it has no superflous electronics that take up space, lock I/O pins and cost money.
- This module is available from at least ten different sources.
- The schematic is available (You’ll find it elsewhere in this section).
As I’ve said, this is a standalone module. You can use it as-is although you will need an SWD probe to program it : that Micro-USB connector is for the microcontroller’s own USB device peripheral, it’s not for flashing code into the module. Luckily, SWD probes are inexpensive… or even free : there’s one on every ST Nucleo board that you can use with this module at no cost.
That being said, using a module with 80 I/O pins gets cumbersome really fast. So I designed this carrier board to, well, carry it. Along with other modules :
Click for X-Tra Large photo
In this section I’ll go into details about the hardware, setting up a development environment, and how to use the peripherals of the STM32H750. Enjoy !