Intermediate
30 min

Present textual information, numbers, and basic graphics with LS013B7DH03 and STM32L496AG

Customization made easy: Monochrome LCD at your command!

LCD Mono Click with Discovery kit with STM32L496AG MCU

Published Jul 22, 2025

Click board™

LCD Mono Click

Dev. board

Discovery kit with STM32L496AG MCU

Compiler

NECTO Studio

MCU

STM32L496AG

Tailor the displayed information to your specific application, whether it's showing real-time data, status indicators, alerts, or user instructions.

A

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Hardware Overview

How does it work?

LCD Mono Click is based on the LS013B7DH03, an LCD display from Sharp that has a reflective active-matrix with a slightly transmissive-type memory liquid crystal display module with a 128 x128 panel which uses CG silicon thin film transistor. Its transmissive mode is implemented with a backlight, and you can control the display with serial data signal communication. It features a thin, light, and compact module with monolithic technology, and its most important feature is the super low power consumption TFT panel. For an MCU application, a powerful display can often be off-limits because of price, CPU processing power, or power budget. However, you can create a powerful display application using the EFM32's energy-saving capabilities and a Sharp low-power matrix memory LCD. The application can drive a

128x128 pixel display drawing as little as 2 µA while showing a static image. Even when updating the frame every second, the current consumption can be lower than 5µA. The display for this click, the LS013B7DH03 LCD, is a 1.28", 128x128 pixels monochrome display with a 3-wire SPI interface. Apart from the SPI interface, the display requires a 3.3V power supply and three extra pins named EXTMODE, EXTCOMIN, and DISP. The EXTMODE pin controls how polarity inversion is controlled. The display requires that the polarity across the Liquid Crystal Cell is reversed at a constant frequency. This polarity inversion prevents charge from building up within the cell. If EXTMODE is LOW, the polarity inversion is toggled by sending a special command over SPI. If it is HIGH, polarity inversion is controlled by the EXTCOMIN pin.

If EXTMODE is HIGH, the polarity inversion is armed for every rising edge of the EXTCOMIN pin. The actual polarity inversion is triggered at the next transition of SCS. The toggling frequency should be at least 1 Hz. If EXTMODE is LOW, this pin is ignored. The DISP pin toggles the display on or off (without the pixels losing their state). When LOW, the display is off; when HIGH, the display is on. This Click board™ can be operated only with a 3.3V logic voltage level. The board must perform appropriate logic voltage level conversion before using MCUs with different logic levels. Also, it comes equipped with a library containing functions and an example code that can be used as a reference for further development.

LCD Mono Click top side image
LCD Mono Click bottom side image

Features overview

Development board

The 32L496GDISCOVERY Discovery kit serves as a comprehensive demonstration and development platform for the STM32L496AG microcontroller, featuring an Arm® Cortex®-M4 core. Designed for applications that demand a balance of high performance, advanced graphics, and ultra-low power consumption, this kit enables seamless prototyping for a wide range of embedded solutions. With its innovative energy-efficient

architecture, the STM32L496AG integrates extended RAM and the Chrom-ART Accelerator, enhancing graphics performance while maintaining low power consumption. This makes the kit particularly well-suited for applications involving audio processing, graphical user interfaces, and real-time data acquisition, where energy efficiency is a key requirement. For ease of development, the board includes an onboard ST-LINK/V2-1

debugger/programmer, providing a seamless out-of-the-box experience for loading, debugging, and testing applications without requiring additional hardware. The combination of low power features, enhanced memory capabilities, and built-in debugging tools makes the 32L496GDISCOVERY kit an ideal choice for prototyping advanced embedded systems with state-of-the-art energy efficiency.

Discovery kit with STM32L496AG MCU double side image

Microcontroller Overview

MCU Card / MCU

STM32L496AG Image

Architecture

ARM Cortex-M4

MCU Memory (KB)

1024

Silicon Vendor

STMicroelectronics

Pin count

169

RAM (Bytes)

327680

Used MCU Pins

mikroBUS™ mapper

NC
NC
AN
NC
NC
RST
SPI Chip Select
PG11
CS
SPI Clock
PI1
SCK
SPI Data OUT
PD3
MISO
SPI Data IN
PI3
MOSI
Power Supply
3.3V
3.3V
Ground
GND
GND
COM Inversion Polarity Output
PA0
PWM
NC
NC
INT
NC
NC
TX
NC
NC
RX
NC
NC
SCL
NC
NC
SDA
NC
NC
5V
Ground
GND
GND
1

Take a closer look

Click board™ Schematic

LCD Mono Click Schematic schematic

Step by step

Project assembly

Discovery kit with STM32H750XB MCU front image hardware assembly

Start by selecting your development board and Click board™. Begin with the Discovery kit with STM32L496AG MCU as your development board.

Discovery kit with STM32H750XB MCU front image hardware assembly
Thermo 21 Click front image hardware assembly
Prog-cut hardware assembly
Board mapper by product7 hardware assembly
Necto image step 2 hardware assembly
Necto image step 3 hardware assembly
Necto image step 4 hardware assembly
Necto image step 5 hardware assembly
Necto image step 6 hardware assembly
Discovery kit with STM32H750XB MCU NECTO MCU Selection Step hardware assembly
Necto No Display image step 8 hardware assembly
Necto image step 9 hardware assembly
Necto image step 10 hardware assembly
Necto image step 11 hardware assembly

Track your results in real time

Application Output

1. Application Output - In Debug mode, the 'Application Output' window enables real-time data monitoring, offering direct insight into execution results. Ensure proper data display by configuring the environment correctly using the provided tutorial.

2. UART Terminal - Use the UART Terminal to monitor data transmission via a USB to UART converter, allowing direct communication between the Click board™ and your development system. Configure the baud rate and other serial settings according to your project's requirements to ensure proper functionality. For step-by-step setup instructions, refer to the provided tutorial.

3. Plot Output - The Plot feature offers a powerful way to visualize real-time sensor data, enabling trend analysis, debugging, and comparison of multiple data points. To set it up correctly, follow the provided tutorial, which includes a step-by-step example of using the Plot feature to display Click board™ readings. To use the Plot feature in your code, use the function: plot(*insert_graph_name*, variable_name);. This is a general format, and it is up to the user to replace 'insert_graph_name' with the actual graph name and 'variable_name' with the parameter to be displayed.

Software Support

Library Description

This library contains API for LCD Mono Click driver.

Key functions:

  • lcdmono_draw_text - Draw text on the screen

  • lcdmono_display_power - Display Power State

  • lcdmono_display_reset - Reset procedure

Open Source

Code example

The complete application code and a ready-to-use project are available through the NECTO Studio Package Manager for direct installation in the NECTO Studio. The application code can also be found on the MIKROE GitHub account.

/*!
 * \file 
 * \brief LcdMono Click example
 * 
 * # Description
 * This application sets text on lcd displey.
 *
 * The demo application is composed of two sections :
 * 
 * ## Application Init 
 * Driver initialization - Starting LCD Mono display. Print text to the display by changing font size ...
 * 
 * ## Application Task  
 * Drawing an image to the display every 3 second.
 * 
 * *note:* 
 * - Create Image:
 *     Save the image in resolution of 128x128 px with the extension (monochrome bmp) ...
 *     Upload the image to Image2Lcd program
 *     Set parameters to:
 *            1. Output file type : C array
 *            2. Scan Mode : Horisontal scan
 *            3. Bits Pixel : monochrome
 *            4. Max width and height : 128x128
 *            5. Check only MSB first
 *            6. Check Reverse color and adjust Normal type
 * The image to be generated should contain about 2048 bytes ...
 * Insert the image into the file lcdmono_image.h
 *
 * - Create Font:
 *     Close existing project, open a new VTFT project
 *     Add label and adjust text font
 *     Generate source code
 *     Copy the font from resource.c file to this project in file lcdmono_font.h
 * 
 * \author Nemanja Medakovic
 *
 */
// ------------------------------------------------------------------- INCLUDES

#include "board.h"
#include "log.h"
#include "lcdmono.h"
#include "lcdmono_font.h"
#include "lcdmono_image.h"

// ------------------------------------------------------------------ VARIABLES

static lcdmono_t lcdmono;

static const char demo_text_lcd[ 4 ] = { 'L', 'C', 'D', 0 };
static const char demo_text_mono[ 5 ] = { 'M', 'o', 'n', 'o', 0 };
static const char demo_text_128x128px[ 10 ] = { '1', '2', '8', 'x', '1', '2', '8', 'p', 'x', 0 };

// ------------------------------------------------------ APPLICATION FUNCTIONS

void application_init ( void )
{
    lcdmono_cfg_t cfg;
    lcdmono_text_settings_t tx_set;
    lcdmono_font_t font_cfg;

    //  Click initialization.
    lcdmono_cfg_setup( &cfg );
    LCDMONO_MAP_MIKROBUS( cfg, MIKROBUS_1 );
    lcdmono_init( &lcdmono, &cfg );

    lcdmono_display_reset( &lcdmono );
    lcdmono_clear( &lcdmono );

    // Background color for all text
    tx_set.bg_color = LCDMONO_COLOR_WHITE;
    // Display text
    font_cfg.this_font = lcdmono_font_tahoma_16;
    lcdmono_set_font( &lcdmono, &font_cfg );

    tx_set.len = 3;
    tx_set.start_cord_x = 25;
    tx_set.start_cord_y = 15;
    lcdmono_draw_text( &lcdmono, demo_text_lcd, &tx_set, LCDMONO_REFRESH_TEXT_BUFFER | 
                                                         LCDMONO_CHECK_NEW_TEXT );

    font_cfg.this_font = lcdmono_font_tahoma_8;
    lcdmono_set_font( &lcdmono, &font_cfg );

    tx_set.len = 4;
    tx_set.start_cord_x = 60;
    tx_set.start_cord_y = 50;
    lcdmono_draw_text( &lcdmono, demo_text_mono, &tx_set, LCDMONO_CHECK_NEW_TEXT );

    tx_set.len = 9;
    tx_set.start_cord_x = 10;
    tx_set.start_cord_y = 80;
    lcdmono_draw_text( &lcdmono, demo_text_128x128px, &tx_set, LCDMONO_REFRESH_DISPLAY_END );

    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    lcdmono_clear( &lcdmono );
}

void application_task ( void )
{
    lcdmono_draw_frame( &lcdmono, demo_img_mikroe_light );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    lcdmono_draw_frame( &lcdmono, demo_img_mikroe );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    lcdmono_draw_frame( &lcdmono, demo_img_logo_light );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    lcdmono_draw_frame( &lcdmono, demo_img_logo );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
    Delay_ms ( 1000 );
}

int main ( void ) 
{
    /* Do not remove this line or clock might not be set correctly. */
    #ifdef PREINIT_SUPPORTED
    preinit();
    #endif
    
    application_init( );
    
    for ( ; ; ) 
    {
        application_task( );
    }

    return 0;
}

// ------------------------------------------------------------------------ END

Additional Support

Resources

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