1. Introduction

   STM32 is a family of 32-bit microcontroller produced by STMicroelectronics (意法半导体，意大利和法国的公司) based on the ARM Cortex-M processor core. Each microcontroller consists of the processor core, SRAM, flash memory, debugging interface, and various peripherals. (So it is an microcontroller not a microprocessor).

   ARM Cortex series has A, R and M categories. The M series is for a the cost and power sensitive applications.(Details about the different between A, R and M)

2. Naming Convention

   Example STM32F103C8T6

   1. STM32(32-bit microcontroller based ARM)
   2. F1(Cortex-M3)
   3. 03(preformance and feature:USB, CAN, up to 72MHz)
   4. C (48 pins)
   5. 8 (64K flash)
   6. T (LQFP package)
   7. 6(working tamperature)

   Example STM32F100RD

   1. STM32(32-bit microcontroller based ARM)
   2. F1(Cortex-M3)
   3. 00(preformance and feature:24MHz)
   4. R(64 pins)
   5. D(384K flash & 32K SRAM)

   STM32 series

   STM32 Series	ARM architecture
   F0, J	Cortex-M0
   L0, J	Cortex-M0+
   F2, F1, L1, W, J	Cortex-M3
   F4, F3, L4, J	Cortex-M4F
   F7, H7	Cortex-M7F

3. Cortex-M3

   Cortex-M3 based on ARMv7-M architecture (harvard architecture), 3-stage pipeline, branch speculation, integrated sleep modes, 12 cycle interrupt latency.

   ARMv7-M supports thumb-1 (16-bit) and thumb-2 (32-bits) ISA (instruction set architection).

4. Development board

   STM32F103 Nucleo-64

   1. Nucleo-64: 64pins
   2. ARM Cortex-M3 72MHz

5. Reference

   1. ARM developer