Electronic – Minimal ARM circuit is not working

This really depends on the chips you are using - you didn't specify which one you got. Typically you would need at least a crystal, decoupling caps and reset logic. The programming interface might be a simple JTAG interface.

But all of this should be stated in the chips data sheet.

Update (for the STM32F407):

Look at the following pages in the data sheet

• 23ff. for the needed voltages (1.8-3.6V, so you need a regulator), and how to use the internal regulator (by pulling pin PDR_ON high)
• 69ff. for the pinouts
• 69+74 for the power supply scheme (this are the most interesting pages since they show the power supply connections and the needed capacitors)

You won't need a reset circuit (it's integrated - see page 23) or an oscillator (the integrated 16MHz oscillator is selected on startup, see page 22). So using a LQFP144 breakout board (like the one from futurlec(see bottom of page) might really be enough.

You can also look at the schematic of the STM32F4DISCOVERY board (see it's user manual, page 33. What you see there is the basic circuit - and it even contains the external crystals.

You need to connect all the power pins, and should probably do so with both low inductance bypass caps as close to the chip as possible, and larger value supply caps just beyond.

If that is one of the parts which requires external caps for its internal regulator (I know the `405 for example does), you will need to provide those between the VCAP pins and ground as well.

In most cases you will want to ground BOOT0, possibly through a resistor you can override or change out if you want to experiment with other boot modes.

You do not need to provide an external clock. I believe there is a weak internal pullup on the reset already.

It would be well worth your trouble to break out the SWDIO and SWDCLK signals, and for most purposes one of the UARTs even if you are also planning to rely on one of the USB ports or other interfaces in your final implementation.

If there are specific pins you are unsure what to do with, you should in order:

1) Read what the data sheet has to say about them

2) See what is done with them on the Discovery or similar boards for this part of its closest relatives

3) Edit your question to specifically state which pins you are unsure about.

Another thing you can do is start with a universal TQFP-whatever board, or make your own application specific board which breaks out most or all of the not-yet-used pins for experiments. Extra boards with extra signals broken out can be quite handy to have on hand - many times you will end up using leftover pieces of one design as an initial platform when contemplating the next.