Atmel Corporation has introduced a three-member family of driver ICs for high-temperature applications (AECQ100, Grade 0). The ATA6824, ATA6827 and ATA6832 are designed using Atmel's high-voltage SMARTIS technology, which uses a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate that minimizes junction leakage, and is said to offer exceptional latch-up immunity. The technology can enable chip temperatures up to 200 °C and ambient temperatures up to 150 °C.
In mechatronic solutions such as turbochargers or exhaust gas recirculation systems, flaps must be controlled by dc-motor driver ICs located close to a hot engine. Atmel said that designers can combine its new driver ICs with Atmel's ATmega family of 8-bit AVR flash microcontrollers, which are also qualified for high-temperature automotive applications.
Each of the three high-side and three low-side drivers are capable of driving currents up to 1.0 A. The ATA6827, a fully protected triple half-bridge driver with integrated power stages for microcontroller control of up to three different loads, supports the application of H-bridges to drive dc motors. Reverse, brake and high impedance operation modes are controlled by an SPI interface.
The ATA6832 provides an additional PWM functionality with up to 25 kHz, enabling a dc motor control to be generated without any audible noise caused by the PWM signal. The ATA6824 MOSFET driver IC is designed for applications involving higher output currents. In addition to H-bridge driver functionality, the ATA6824 includes a 5 V/3 V voltage regulator for microcontroller supply, a window watchdog, and a serial interface. It also includes motion control functionality on-chip so that only the direction command and the PWM signal for the speed information need to be provided by the microcontroller.
All three driver ICs provide over-temperature shutdown, overload and over-voltage protection, as well as protection against short circuits. They provide protection against conducted interference as well as EMC and ESD protection, and they can withstand transients as specified in ISO/TR 7637.