Date: 28/07/2010

New MCUs and MOSFET for automotive applications

Infineon has release a MCU family callesd AUDO MAX and a power MOSFET for automotive electronics. Infineon's new AUDO MAX family of 32-bit microcontrollers (MCUs) is for use in automotive powertrain and chassis control. This MCU family supports design of engine management systems meeting the Euro 5 and Euro 6 emission standards for combustion vehicles and enables the electrification of powertrain functions in electrical vehicles.

The Key features of the AUDO MAX family include:
1. Has maximum clock frequencies of up to 300MHz, high-speed interfaces like SENT and FlexRay, and support for advanced safety engineering by using the PRO-SIL features of the devices.
2. The MCUs which are also available in bare-die version are suited for use at temperatures of up to 170 °C.
3. The AUDO MAX family is based on the TriCore processor architecture and manufactured in 90-nm process technology.

The AUDO MAX devices are suggested for use in internal combustion engine control applications to calculate the best fuel-air mixture as well as to determine the optimum fuel injection and ignition timing for each cylinder individually. The AUDO MAX offer continuous damping control as a safety feature. AUDO MAX is highly suggested for controlling the automatic transmission within an x-by-wire vehicle.

"Whenever there is a transition from one platform to the next one we need to keep design efforts for the systems supplier as simple as possible - a fact which has always been important with all our automotive electronics ICs including AUDO MAX," said Mr. Schaefer. "In applications ranging from low-end 3-cylinder motors to standard 4-cylinder and high-end 8-cylinder engines Infineon's AUDO MAX products always offer the best price-performance ratio." Regarding performance the AUDO MAX family member TC1798 can be driven at 300MHz, which is the highest clock speed of any single core MCU in the powertrain/chassis segment. Moreover, all TriCore derivatives in the family benefit from the proven strength of the TriCore architecture in execution of DSP algorithms.

The AUDO MAX family includes Infineon's PRO-SIL (safety integrity level) functionality to meet automotive system supplier requirements for intrinsic data and operating safety. PRO-SIL supports automotive system suppliers and car manufacturers in putting safety-relevant features into practice and in designing systems conforming to the international IEC61508 or ISO26262 standards.

The AUDO MAX family also includes devices with two 10Mbit/s FlexRay channels and between two and four 1Mbit/s CAN nodes. SENT (Single Edge Nibble Transmission) interface integrated in a microcontroller simplifies system integration. The built-in interface enables direct communication with digital sensors without the need to insert analog interfaces into the signal chain.

Infineon's new OptiMOS-T2, 30V Power MOSFET (Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor) for high current (500 Amps range) automotive applications. This is a N-channel device with drain current of 180A and R DS(on) of just 0.9m? at 10V gate-to-source voltage. Infineon says this reduces the required number of parallel MOSFETs by one for high current systems. This MOSFET is suitable for high-current automotive motor drive applications, electric power steering (EPS) and especially start/stop functionality.

This MOSFET use "Powerbond" technology from Infineon to address the wirebond limitations in a MOSFET, reducing the R DS(on) drop of the wirebond and increasing the current capability. The latest Powerbond technology enables up to four double-stitch 500µm wirebonds in a single MOSFET which permits 180A current rating in a standard package, says Infineon.

OptiMOS-T2 technologies are designed to sustain 260 °C during reflow soldering at MSL1 (Moisture Level 1) and have lead-free plating for RoHS compliance. The IPB180N03S4L-H0 power MOSFET is fully qualified according to the specifications of Automotive Electronics Council (AEC-Q101). The OptiMOS-T2 30V products can also provide battery protection through reverse connection.

For more information visit: www.infineon.com