Date: 23/12/2009

LIN 2.1 transceiver IC for automotive apps

Austriamicrosystems has introduced the AS8520 and AS8530, a two new in-vehicle-network CMOS LIN 2.1 transceiver ICs that are suitable for the automotive applications such as window lift, sunroof, seat positioning, and battery sensor.

The AS8520 provides a transceiver, voltage regulator, four-wire micro controller interface for window watchdog, diagnosis and backup register access, and two relay drivers and a resistive attenuator.

The AS8530 is a general-purpose companion IC for LIN slaves providing the transceiver, a LDO and a shared pin microcontroller interface with window watchdog inside an 8-pin package.

The AS8530 is a stripped down version of AS8520 without the application specific relay driver and attenuator, providing two wire shared pin micro controller interfaces to provide the same digital features as AS8520 in an 8-pin package. Both circuits are designed for low quiescent current of typically 36µA in standby mode.

The key features of the AS8520 and AS8530 IC are,

LIN 2.0/2.1 transceiver, load independent slew control
LDO for 5V or 3.3V output, selected by factory programming
Serial interface for configuration, diagnosis and status readout, watch dog trigger and relay driver control
Normal-, standby or sleep operating modes
Window watchdog
Reset generator with factory programmable reset time
Output voltage monitor with factory adjustable level
Unique chip ID for traceability

The other key features of the AS8520 IC are resistive attenuator with disable for battery voltage measurement.

The other suggested applications for the AS8530 IC are HVAC, mirror adjustment, and rain sensor, and for the AS8520 IC is battery sensor with current sensor in the battery plus rail.

"The AS8520 and AS8530 enable a new generation of LIN nodes. This is due to the fastest start-up procedure available on the market, which is achieved by the integration of low power back-up registers", says Bernhard Czar, marketing director automotive at Austriamicrosystems. "Additionally, all current and future EMC requirements are addressed by the unique integrated automatic slew-rate control."

Operating temperature range: -40°C to +125°C

Package:
AS8520: 24-pin 6x6mm QFN package
AS8530: 8-pin epSOIC package

For more details visit www.austriamicrosystems.com/LIN_CompanionICs