Renesas' RL78/G16 combines smaller package options with lesser capacitive touch sensors (CTSUb) for products that are size sensitive and an operating ambient temperature range of -40°C~+125°C, making it suitable for a wide range of applications, especially in home appliances. Even the smallest package (10-pin, Flash: 16 KB) has 3ch available to enable users to design touch applications in portable devices. Furthermore, G16 covers the upper package and memory lineup range of RL78/G15 to expand the coverage of application usage in the 8-bit MCU market.

CTSUb and +125°C support solve issues such as small mounting space and thermal runaway when the MCU is placed near heat-generating parts such as motors. CTSUb provides enhanced operability under a variety of conditions. For example, it supports sensing through acrylic or glass panels more than 10 mm thick, which is enough for use in household equipment with thick doors or partitions. And it meets the high demand for a touchless user interface due to the influence of COVID-19.

Furthermore, rich development environments are available for RL78/G16, such as two-line OCD with which users can program/debug without an emulator, QE for Capacitive-Touch for tuning, Smart Configurator, and Arduino IDE for easy use.