LilyGO T-HC32 board with the world’s smallest Arm MCU (HC32L110B6) is now available for $9

HC32L110 Arm Cortex-M0+ MCU is found in a minuscule 1.59 x 1.436 mm CSP16 package that should make it the world’s smallest Arm MCU. LilyGO T-HC32 is one of the first boards with the HC32L110B6 microcontroller, and it is now available for $8.98 on Aliexpress including shipping.

The board offers really basic features with two buttons, a WS2812 RGB LED, and two-row of ten pins each for GPIOs and power signals, plus a 4-pin header for SWD programming. There’s nothing really special about the board or its price, except for the MCU’s size that’s barely discernable from a discrete component, and much smaller than the 7x7mm ESP32-PICO-D4 system-in-package shown in the photo below for comparison.

HC32L110B6 vs ESP32-PICO-D4
A huge ESP32-PICO-D4 SiP is shown for reference.

 

LilyGO T-HC32 board specifications:

  • MCU – HDSC HC32L110B6 Arm Cortex-M0+ @ up to 32 MHz with up to 4KB RAM, up to 32KB flash memory
  • Expansion – 2x 10-pin header with GPIO, UART, I2C, SPI, VCC, VBUS, and GND
  • Programming – 4-pin SWD header
  • Misc – Reset button, user button, WS2812 RGB LED
  • Power Supply – 5V via USB Type-C port
  • Dimensions – 3 x 2.2 cm

LilyGO T-HC32 pinout map

They could have probably made the PCB a little smaller, as some pins are duplicated (VCC and GND), and the board itself is bigger than the nRF52840-based Seeed Studio XIAO BLE Sense board, but at least it could serve as a base to develop ultra-compact solutions based on the HC32L110B6 MCU.

The first time we wrote about the microcontroller there was only documentation in Chinese, but now LilyGO has set up a Github repository with Keil MDK and IAR code samples written in C language, and some basic documentation to get started in English. Sadly all detailed documentation about HC32L110 MCU is still in Chinese only.

LilyGO T-HC32 boardWhile the T-HC32 board itself is sold for $8.98, you’ll either need a J-Link debugger connected to the SWD interface, or the T-U2T Kit USB to TTL adapter connected to the USB-C port to program the board. The latter is available in a bundle that goes for $14.98 including shipping.

Share this:

Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress

ROCK Pi 4C Plus
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
The comment form collects your name, email and content to allow us keep track of the comments placed on the website. Please read and accept our website Terms and Privacy Policy to post a comment.
15 Comments
oldest
newest
Theguyuk
Theguyuk
1 year ago

That more memory than a Sinclair ZX80 and ZX81 had.

dgp
dgp
1 year ago

Its as if time and progress goes forward or something. Mind blown.

Theguyuk
Theguyuk
1 year ago

Not. People did a lot in 1KB ram 8KB ROM. Also not a Arduino in sight, “The ULA chip, described by the ZX81 manual as the “dogsbody” of the system, has a number of key functions that competing computers share between multiple chips and integrated circuits. These comprise the following: Synchronising the screen display; Generating a 6.5 MHz clock, from which a 3.25 MHz clock is derived for the processor; Outputting an audio signal to a cassette recorder in SAVE mode; Processing the incoming cassette audio signal in LOAD mode; Sensing keystrokes; Using memory addresses provided by the CPU to decide when… Read more »

dgp
dgp
1 year ago

Heads up: I own+read the ULA book by Chris Smith. >Not. People did a lot in 1KB ram 8KB ROM. Yay! I had a spectrum, I also had an Amiga.. I was really glad for having the Amiga because in comparison the spectrum was garbage. And now I have a machine with 64GB of RAM, tons of CPU cores and a RTX 3070TI the Amiga is also garbage in comparison. Tokenised BASIC was awful and you know it. >Also not a Arduino in sight, Not sure what Arduinos have to do with this.. >“The ULA chip, described by the ZX81… Read more »

Theguyuk
Theguyuk
1 year ago

Disagree, I had ZX81, ZX Spectrum, Atari ST, Atari STE, Pentium P100 I overclocked to 120.
Tokenized basic allowed bigger basic programs in 1K, 16K, 48K etc.

I built many my own PC from parts. DOS, Windows 3.11, 95, 98, XP, 7 and 10. Doing things in software is nothing new, some graphics cards only had features written in the drivers in software.

dgp
dgp
1 year ago

Ok, Jerry.

Theguyuk
Theguyuk
1 year ago

OK Jerry

Willy
Willy
1 year ago

Truly impressive. That’s also an amazing success for the PCB maker to etch copper lanes this thin!

andelf
andelf
1 year ago

Csp16 for an MCU at 1.4mm squared isn’t really go groundbreaking. There are a lot of 8051’s around. I’m not sure they using arm would be a “claim to fame” either.. sorry for being a negative Nancy, but it’s just more expensive for no parent gain…

kxygk
1 year ago

It’s discussed here in more detail: https://spritesmods.com/?art=hc32l110

Seems accessing all the pins is the challenge – but you can get at least the essentials without any magic

Willy
Willy
1 year ago

Oh, I remember seeing very similar photos a few years ago of another uC being soldered with enamelled wire like this. that was impressive. Note, I like to play with minuscule devices, I even assembled two working Breadbee boards, but here it’s one step further 🙂

Hassan Daoud
Hassan Daoud
1 year ago

cant compare with esp32, has 500KB memory and 4MB flash, bluetooth, wifi, and a 160MHz clock, …

Willy
Willy
1 year ago

Agreed, it should rather be compared with a small Arduino, it’s closer to an ATTiny87.

Mike
Mike
1 year ago

240MHZ clock

Jon Smirl
1 year ago

How about a BLE module including the antenna for 4x10x1mm?
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/news/worlds-smallest-ble-module-emerges-from-toshiba-and-nordic-semiconductor-team-up/
Cortex-M4, 192K flash, 24K RAM

This chip has been used in pills you swallow that send out real-time intestinal readings via the radio.

Khadas VIM4 SBC