STM32F1: pinout, specs, and Arduino IDE configuration (STM32duino and STMicroelectronics) – 1

by Renzo Mischianti · Published 24 May 2022 · Updated 11 February 2024

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STM32F1 pinout specs and Arduino IDE configuration

SMT32 details

The STM32 family of 32-bit microcontrollers is based on the Arm^® Cortex^®-M processor.

These products combine very high performance, real-time capabilities digital signal processing, low-power / low-voltage operation, and connectivity while maintaining full integration and ease of development.

The STM32 microcontrollers, based on an industry-standard core, come with a vast choice of tools and software to support project development, making this family of products ideal for both small projects and end-to-end platforms.

Here the most commons STM32 STM32F103C8T6 STM32F401 STM32F411 ST-Link v2 ST-Link v2 official

Specs

There is a wide variety of stm32; here is a schematization of the main category.

STM32 family of 32bit microcontrollers categories

A more detailed classification can do with the part number decoding:

STM32F051R8
STM32xxwwyz

xx – Family
ww – subtype: differs in equipment of peripherals and this depend on certain family
y – Package pin count
z – FLASH memory size

Family: [xx]

Code	Core	Max freq [MHz]	Max FLASH [KB]	Max SRAM [KB]	Target
F0	Cortex-M0	48	256	32	Mainstream
F1	Cortex-M3	72	1024	96	Mainstream
F2	Cortex-M3	120	1024	128	High performance
F3	Cortex-M4F	72	512	80	Mainstream
F4	Cortex-M4F	180	2048	384	High performance
G0	Cortex-M0+	64	128	36	Mainstream
G4	Cortex-M4F	170	512	128	Mainstream
F7	Cortex-M7F	216	2048	512	High performance
H7	Cortex-M7F	480	2048	1024	High performance
WB	Cortex-M4F	64	1024	256	Wireless
WL	Cortex-M4	48	256	64	Wireless
L0	Cortex-M0+	32	192	20	Ultra-low-power
L1	Cortex-M3	32	512	80	Ultra-low-power
L4	Cortex-M4F	80	1024	320	Ultra-low-power
L4+	Cortex-M4F	120	2048	640	Ultra-low-power
L5	Cortex-M33F	110	512	256	Ultra-low-power
U5	Cortex-M33F	160	2048	786	Ultra-low-power

Package pin count [y]

Code	Number of pins
A	169
B	208
C	48
F	20
G	28
H	40
I	176
J	8/72
K	32
M	81
N	216
Q	132
R	64
T	36
U	63
V	100
Z	144

FLASH memory size [z]

Code	FLASH size [KB]
4	16
6	32
8	64
B	128
Z	192
C	256
D	384
E	512
F	768
G	1024
H	1536
I	2048

STM32F1 details

ST’s STM32F1 Series of mainstream MCUs covers the needs of a large variety of applications, the Arm^® Cortex™-M microcontrollers give a good performance with first-class peripherals and low-power, low-voltage operation is paired with a high level of integration at accessible prices with a simple architecture and easy-to-use tools.

Pinouts

STM32F103C8T6 Blue Pill: high resolution pinout and specs

STM32F103C6T6 Blue Pill: high-resolution pinout and specs

The significant advantage of these devices is that the pins have 3.3v logic, but some are 5v tolerant; you can see them in the pinout diagram (green square 5v tolerant, red square only 3.3v).

Wiring

The device you had to buy probably arrived without a bootloader, and you need an FTDI programmer. I usually use a basic model, but in this case, It’s more simple to use a module with integrated power output.

It exists more expensive FT232RL or FT232 module, but a CH340G or CH340 working very well.

Here the two model USB to TTL CH340G - USB to TTL FT232RL

Connection schema with FTDI (USBtoTTL)

First of all, we will upload a sketch in an empty stm32 blue pill, in my case STM32F103C8T6. to do that, we must use the FTDI in this manner.

You can power the stm32 with 3.3v or 5v in the respective pin, and you must connect FTDI TX to PA10 and RX to PA9.

STM32F103C8T6	FTDI
5v or 3.3v	VCC 5v or 3.3v
GND	GND
A9	RX
A10	TX

Connection schema with ST-Link

STM32	ST-Link v2
GND	GND
SCK	SWCLK
DIO	SWDIO
3V3	3V3

Boot modalities

You can select three types of boot mode:

Boot from System Memory: that invokes the on-chip bootloader, which is present in the chip directly from the factory before you’ve programmed anything into the on-chip flash. This allows you to load (program) code into the device from an external interface such as UART or USB.
Main flash memory: is where your code typically goes. In normal operation, your code will reside in flash, and on Power-On Reset (POR), the CPU will fetch the reset vector and initial stack pointer (SP) from flash. You can load flash via JTAG, the on-chip bootloader (above), etc.
Load code into RAM (JTAG, runtime) and then boot/run from there. This isn’t often used, usually, you’re doing something tricky like a temporary bootloader or the like.

Here is the table with jumper configuration:

BOOT0	BOOT1	Modality
0	X	Main flash memory
1	0	System Memory
1	1	Embedded SRAM

Configure your Arduino IDE

Probably when you buy an STM32, It arrives without a bootloader, so nothing happens if you attach the device to the USB. So we must use an external device (FTDI described before) for the first programming or add a bootloader.

There are many board descriptors and firmware variants for STM32, and It’s pretty tricky to find a “standard” way to follow. So in this article, I’d like to add some options that you can choose.

SMT32duino

We start with stm32duino, probably the most famous. We must add the URL descriptor to our Arduino IDE.

http://dan.drown.org/stm32duino/package_STM32duino_index.json

Go to File –> Preferences and add the URL on “Additional Boards Manager URLs.”

Arduino IDE add STM32duino URL descriptor — Arduino IDE adds STM32duino URL descriptor.

Then you must add a new board in Boards Manager

The board to select is STM32F1xx.

Arduino IDE select STM32duino STM32 boards — Arduino IDE selects STM32duino STM32 boards.

Now you can choose the specified device:

Now we are going to choose the upload method with Serial FTDI, so Upload method: "Serial".

Arduino IDE select stm32 upload methods — Arduino IDE selects stm32 upload methods.

For the ST-Link you must select STLink.

Select boot mode

By default, you have jumpers in “normal” mode.

You must put it in “programming” mode (System memory).

Simple Blink sketch for STM32F1xx

My device has LED on PA13

/*
  Blink for STM32F1xx 

  Turns an LED on for one second, then off for one second, repeatedly.

  http://www.mischianti.org
*/

void setup() {
  // Open serial communications and wait for port to open:
  Serial.begin(115200);

  while (!Serial) {
    ; // wait for serial port to connect. Needed for native USB port only
  }
  Serial.print(F("Serial OK!"));

  pinMode(PC13, OUTPUT);
}

void loop() {
  digitalWrite(PC13, HIGH);
  delay(1000);
  digitalWrite(PC13, LOW);
  delay(1000);
}

Now select the port of FDTI and start the upload.

C:\Users\renzo\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\stm32duino\tools\stm32tools\2021.5.31/win/serial_upload.bat COM25 {upload.altID} {upload.usbID} C:\Users\renzo\AppData\Local\Temp\arduino_build_965206/Blink.ino.bin 
stm32flash 0.4

http://stm32flash.googlecode.com/

Using Parser : Raw BINARY
Interface serial_w32: 115200 8E1
Version      : 0x22
Option 1     : 0x00
Option 2     : 0x00
Device ID    : 0x0410 (Medium-density)
- RAM        : 20KiB  (512b reserved by bootloader)
- Flash      : 128KiB (sector size: 4x1024)
- Option RAM : 16b
- System RAM : 2KiB
Write to memory
Erasing memory
Wrote address 0x080032a4 (100.00%) Done.

Starting execution at address 0x08000000... done.

Now restore the jumper in the default position, push the “Reset” button, and the led start blink.

You must connect the Serial monitor to start the sketch.

Here is the Serial output.

Serial OK!

In the following articles, we will program the STM32 directly via a USB connector and STM32duino bootloader.

Arduino STM32 from STMicroelectronics

We must add the URL descriptor to our Arduino IDE.

https://github.com/stm32duino/BoardManagerFiles/raw/main/package_stmicroelectronics_index.json

Go to File –> Preferences and add the URL on “Additional Boards Manager URLs.”

Arduino IDE add Arduino STM32 URL descriptor — Arduino IDE adds Arduino STM32 URL descriptor.

Then you must add a new board to Boards Manager

The boards to select are STM32 MCU-based boards.

Arduino IDE select STM32 MCU official based boards

Now you can choose the specified device:

Arduino IDE Arduino SMT official select stm32f1 board series

Now we are going to choose the specified board.

Arduino IDE Arduino SMT official select specified stm32f103C8 board

Now we are going to select the upload method with Serial FTDI, so Upload method: "Serial".

Arduino IDE Arduino SMT official select SMTCubeProgrammer Serial

For ST-Link you must select STM32CubeProgrammer (SWD) and to debug you can use the serial adapter (and select USART support: Enabled (generic Serial) or you can select USB support (if available): CDC (generic ‘Serial’ supersede U(S)ART to use the USB cable.

STM32 Arduino IDE select: CDC generic 'Serial' supersede U(S)ART — STM32 Arduino IDE select: CDC generic ‘Serial’ supersede U(S)ART

Install STM32CubeProgrammer

To work, you also need to install the STM32CubeProgrammer released from STMicroelectronics.

You can download It from here.