Date: 19/09/2011

LIN transceiver ICs from Atmel in DFN package

Atmel Corporation has made available of two stand-alone LIN (local interconnect network) transceiver ICs in DFN packages. Compared to standard SO8 packages at 5mm x 6.5mm, the DFN14 package for the ATA6670 measures at 3mm x 4.5mm, while the DFN8 package for the ATA6663 measures at 3mm x 3mm, saving about 75 percent of the overall PCB area, according to Atmel. Space and cost savings are critical for LIN bus networking applications such as automotive body electronic systems, including door modules, seat control, intelligent sensors or powertrain applications. Since both DFN packages are pin-compatible, customers can use either the single- or the dual-LIN transceiver on the same PCB design without any changes.

Atmel claims that it is the industry's first company to provide LIN DFN packages with wettable flanks that make solder joints visible, this feature enables the use of automated optical inspection (AOI) tools during final quality tests at the system manufacturers' production line, which eliminates the need for X-ray inspections to therefore avoid cost-intensive tool investments. In addition, the wettable flanks enable improved soldering performance for temperature cycling.

The new LIN devices are manufactured using Atmel's high-voltage BCD-on-SOI process, also known as SMART-I.S. technology, which is optimized for operations up to 40V for applications in harsh automotive environments, says Atmel. The results of manufacturing on the SMART-I.S. technology are EMC robustness (EMC test and conformance test LIN2.1, Europe, and SAE J2602-2, US), and excellent ESD protection (exceeding 6kV).

Availability and Pricing: Samples of the ATA6670 and the ATA6663 are available now. Pricing starts at USD $0.45 (ATA6663) and USD $0.90 (ATA6670) for 10,000-piece quantities. To simplify and speed-up design-ins, evaluation kits are available for both devices starting at USD $50.00.