Expanded 32 Kbit SPI serial EEPROM family

Jan. 1, 2007
Microchip Technology has expanded its 32 Kbit SPI serial EEPROM family with the 25AA320A and 25LC320A devices. Capable of speeds up to 10 MHz, the new devices are available in very low-profile MSOP and TSSOP packages, as well as most standard packages.

Microchip Technology has expanded its 32 Kbit SPI serial EEPROM family with the 25AA320A and 25LC320A (25XX320A) devices. Capable of speeds up to 10 MHz, the new devices are available in very low-profile MSOP and TSSOP packages, as well as most standard packages. They enable customers to easily upgrade 32 Kbit designs to 10 MHz, while enjoying Microchip's high endurance, quality, on-time delivery and short lead times.

The 25XX320A SPI serial EEPROMs provide fast byte- and page-level erase and write operations, as well as rapid data-access times. They are built on Microchip's proprietary PMOS electrically erasable cell (PEEC) architecture, which enables high-density devices to be placed in small packages, while maintaining high endurance (1 million erase/write cycles), retention time of 200 years and the ability to operate at high speeds even in harsh environments. Examples of such environments include the high temperatures found in automotive applications.

The same development tools that support all of Microchip's memory products can be used with the 25LC320A and 25AA320A devices. These include the SEEVAL 32 serial EEPROM designer's kit (part # DV243002), which enables quick and easy development of robust, reliable serial EEPROM-based applications. The kit is available at www.microchipdirect.com for $99.99 and includes:

  • Microchip's Total Endurance software model;
  • SEEVAL 32 developer board and user-interface software;
  • serial cable and power supply;
  • serial EEPROM sample pack; and
  • SEEVAL 32 quick start guide.

Total Endurance software is a powerful and easy-to-use tool for modeling and designing serial EEPROM applications. The software takes the guesswork out of determining the life of a serial EEPROM device in an embedded design. Design trade-off analysis that used to consume days or weeks can be accomplished in minutes, with a level of accuracy that delivers a truly robust design.

The 25XX320A serial EEPROMs are offered in eight-pin PDIP, SOIC, MSOP packages, as well as standard and non-standard (rotated) TSSOP package pinouts. This enables customers to easily upgrade from past versions or drop the new devices into existing sockets designed for other 32 Kbit SPI devices on the market, without board changes.

Pricing begins at $0.43 each in 10,000-unit quantities for all voltages, temperature ranges and package options. Samples are available and volume production orders can be placed at online.

Microchip • (480) 792-7200 • www.microchipdirect.com

SIGNAL CONDITIONER

ZMD'S ZMD31150 is a high-speed automotive signal conditioner IC with on-chip diagnostics for use with all types of wheatstone-bridge sensors, such as those used for air conditioning and occupant classification. Enhanced real-time diagnostics in the IC detect faulty connections, shorts and power loss events. An error-correcting function in the EEPROM ensures uncorrupted EEPROM content and increased MTBF. This is backed up with an EEPROM signature check, which detects severe, uncorrectable multibit failures. To enhance hardware reliability, the output is protected against short circuits, reverse polarity, and voltages as high as 33 V.

The ZMD31150 provides highly accurate amplification and sensor-specific digital correction of bridge sensor signals. An analog pre-amp gain of 420 supports bridge outputs as low as 1 mV/V and an extended sensor offset. A 16-bit ADC with an integrating input characteristic gives a 7.8 kHz sample rate, so the whole system delivers a comparable analog bandwidth of 4 kHz.

Accuracy is ±0.1% FSO from -25 °C to +85 °C, ±0.25% FSO from -40 °C to +125 °C, and ±0.5% FSO from -40 °C to +150 °C. Internal or external temperature sensors can be selected for precise temperature compensation. Accurate fuel-system pressure monitoring is essential for the new gaso-line direct injection (GDI) and diesel common-rail injection engines. The ZMD31150's temperature range, accuracy and diagnostics fit well in this application. The ZMD31150 is available in an SSOP14 package at a unit cost of $3.32 for 1500 units, or as a die at a unit cost of $2.12 for 1700 units. An evaluation kit is also available.

ZMD
(631) 549-2666
www.zmd.biz

LED FORWARD LIGHTING

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors' OSTAR headlamp targets vehicle forward lighting applications based on both reflector and projector systems. Systems designed with OSTAR headlamps produce bright, white light and are ideal for applications such as high and low beam headlights, fog lights, daytime running lights and adaptive front-lighting systems (AFS). These high-power light sources are equipped with five large ThinGaN chips. The ThinGaN architecture generates the high brightness and illuminance required to meet both Halogen and HID performance.

Direct access to the LED chips maximizes optical coupling efficiency. Available without primary optics, OSTAR headlamp is ideal for use in reflector-based systems. For projector-based systems, OSTAR headlamp Hotspot will include a primary optic to focus the light. Customer-specific lenses can be precisely mounted to the OSTAR to enable a limitless range of designs.

OSTAR headlamp's packaging simplifies LED forward lighting integration. Pre-cise mounting of the LED chips minimizes tolerance stack up and the low thermal resistance ceramic carrier maximizes brightness and lifetime at underhood temperatures. The integral connector and mounting holes enable a solder-free installation into the vehicle headlamp package. OSTAR headlamps will also meet the automotive AEC-Q101 standard.

Osram Opto Semiconductors
(248) 596-0379

www.osram-os.com

ROTARY ENCODER ICS

Austriamicrosystems has added the AS5030 and AS5130 to its rotary encoder family. These two 8-bit absolute magnetic rotary encoder ICs feature push-button and low-power mode. The devices offer a reliable, contactless alternative to mechanical rotary knobs in a variety of automotive applications.

The AS5030 and AS5130 provide an angle resolution of 1.4° over a full 360° turn (8-bit), accessible via digital serial interface (SSI) or via pulse width-modulated (PWM) outputs. Both devices offer push-button functionality with user-defined magnet-to-device displacement thresholds. For use in applications with stringent power consumption requirements, both devices can operate in low-power mode. In addition, the AS5030 offers an ultralow-power sleep mode.

Both devices can be configured to provide data either via serial interface, PWM or daisy chain. The daisy chain configuration enables users to read the position information of individual devices serially, via a single two-wire bus. The ICs operate at 5 V from -40 °C to +125 °C, and operate at rotational speeds up to 30,000 rpm. The AS5030 is available in a lead-free TSSOP16 package while the AS5130 is available in a lead-free SSOP16 package. The AS5030 is available for sampling and the AS5130 will be available for sampling in the first quarter.

Austriamicrosystems
+43 3136 500-0

www.austriamicrosystems.com

RELAY DRIVER

Allegro MicroSystems' automotive relay driver with 5 V regulator complements its existing family of relay drivers. The device combines the functions of a voltage regulator, watchdog and reset, as well as three low-side DMOS relay driver outputs. Primarily targeted at automotive applications, this IC is designed to provide robust performance over extended voltage and temperature ranges.

Three low-side DMOS drivers are meant to drive relay coils of up to 250 mA each. Each driver integrates rugged voltage clamps that survive automotive load dump pulses up to 48 V. The 40 V rating on VBB also ensures adequate survival in harsh automotive environments.

A 5 V linear regulator provides 40 mA of output current with a tolerance of 2% over the operating temperature range. To enhance the IC's usefulness in automotive applications, the 5 V regulator output as well as the three low-side driver outputs are protected against overcurrent conditions. The A2550 also includes power-on reset circuitry (NPOR) as well as an integrated watchdog circuit. Combined, they service the monitoring and reset requirements of a system microprocessor. The A2550 is priced at $1.00 in quantities of 1000.

Allegro MicroSystems • (508) 853-5000 • www.allegromicro.com

INTEGRATED MICROCONTROLLER-TRANSMITTER PACKAGE

Semiconductor supplier Atmel's highly integrated, low-power microcontroller-transmitter ICs, ATA6285 and ATA6286, with sensor interface are tailored for tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS). Besides including all the necessary building blocks to support the measurement and calibration of simple capacitive pressure and motion sensors, the devices also offer complete RF transmission functionality.

The single-package solution combines Atmel's ATA5756/57 RF transmitters with low-power AVR 8-bit flash microcontrollers. The chips inside the package are implemented in 0.8 μm BCD-on-SOI technology. Features such as integrated temperature sensor with shutdown mode, 90 kHz slow-oscillation mode for timer wake-up in sleep mode, and LF input with several header options, makes it suitable for pressure sensor systems.

Since the ICs are optimized for extremely low current consumption, the sleep mode current is as low as 0.5 μA. The maximum sleep-mode current consumption is 0.85 μA at 85 °C in 90 kHz slow oscillation mode, whereas the current consumption during sensor measurement is as low as 200 μA, which is about 10 times less than piezo-resistive sensor solutions. In transmission mode, the typical current consumption is 8.5 mA at 6 dBm. The programmable, integrated 125 kHz wake-up receiver channel consumes less then 1.7 μA in active listening mode.

While ATA6285 operates at 315 MHz, the ATA6286 is used for 433 MHz operation. Both devices are suited for ASK and FSK transmission with a data rate of typically 10 Kbaud in Manchester mode. The parts can be operated at 2 V to 3.6 V from a single Li-cell power supply at an operation temperature of -40 °C to +125 °C and a storage temperature of -40 °C to +150 °C.

Samples in QFN32 packages (5 mm x 5 mm footprint) are available, with volume production slated for mid-2007. Pricing for the ATA6285 and ATA6286 starts at $2.60 each (at 50,000 piece quantities).

Atmel • (408) 441-0311 • www.atmel.com

WIRE HARNESS DESIGN TOOL

The latest addition to Mentor Graphics' CHS software family is Capital HarnessXC, its next-generation harness design solution for electrical wire harness design and engineering in planes, trains and automobiles. According to Mentor, it is the first harness design-to-manufacture a product that solves the challenge of managing design change in a controlled and configurable way. Employing Internet-based integration technologies and a unique data-driven graphical styling engine, Capital HarnessXC enables users who serve different organizations across multiple locations to work with common tools and processes. This facilitates optimal resource utilization and helps drive down design costs, errors and cycle time.

Developed in consultation with major OEMs and tier one harness makers, Capital HarnessXC leverages Mentor's experience as the supplier of harness design tools and the modern software architecture of CHS. While it significantly enhances the CHS offering, the new tool provides a data-centric design flow spanning logical systems definition, wiring integration and analysis through to detailed harness engineering.

Because it is built on CHS's extensive data management capability, Capital HarnessXC offers seamless integration with the CHS electrical design tools. Many capabilities, ranging from component definition and project management to a common user interface, carry directly across the toolset. Additionally, it also introduces a new capability to manage design change. The embedded change policy manager enables organizations to configure in detail how design changes are evaluated and applied, whether those changes are authored within CHS or imported from another CAD application. This supports a fully automated design change process that eliminates manual user intervention, a common source of error.

Another key feature is intelligent styling. Harness design drawings must typically be produced in various styles or formats. Capital HarnessXC's style management functionality uses a sophisticated query engine to render drawings based on the underlying design data and configurable graphical standards. Numerous graphical formats can be defined and applied across different projects. This capability maximizes design data re-use and promotes organizational flexibility, according to Mentor. Available now, pricing starts at $18,200.

Mentor Graphics • (503) 685-1778 • www.mentor.com/harness

ECU SYSTEM DESIGN

SystemDesk from dSPACE provides a new approach to ECU system design. SystemDesk is an architecture tool for the model-based development process, starting right back at system level. By working with SystemDesk, developers can speed the planning, implementation and integration of their complex system architectures and distributed software systems. SystemDesk also supports teamwork on process-oriented development, and allows OEMs and suppliers to share system models and jointly maintain them. Moreover, users can work in accordance with the AUTOSAR standard.

The first stage in the development process is function specification for the E/E system, called the function architecture. This is carried out independently of the real ECUs. Hardware topologies are defined, software modules are distributed on the software, and the connections between software and buses are specified.

SystemDesk is designed for complex production projects. Such projects require, among other things, integration into version control systems, a script-capable tool, and libraries, for example, for storing reusable objects. To give users clarity even with large-scale models, there are various views of the multi-ECU software architecture, and selective display of model components.

SystemDesk also supports the AUTOSAR standard. For example, AUTOSAR software components can be created, or existing components loaded to SystemDesk for further processing. SystemDesk provides a run-time environment (RTE) based on dSPACE's years of experience in code generation and optimization with TargetLink, the company's production code generator. Application software components from SystemDesk can be linked to basic software via standardized interfaces in the RTE generation.

SystemDesk works hand in hand with TargetLink, which can be used to generate production code for the software components in SystemDesk architecture models. A special TargetLink AUTOSAR Blockset allows the generation of AUTOSAR-compliant production code.

SystemDesk is expected to be released this summer. Future versions will reinforce SystemDesk's position as a central element in the dSPACE tool chain.

DSPACE
Phone: +1 248 567 1300

www.dspaceinc.com

DC MOTOR CONTROLLER WITH BRIDGE PRE-DRIVER FOR SMART ACTUATORS

Melexis has introduced the MLX81100 dc motor controller with embedded flash memory and CPU for automotive high-current applications. Dc motor control, diagnostics and protection is simplified with the highly integrated MLX81100 and a few simple power NMOSFETs. The MLX81100 is the first member of the ‘MelexCM’ family of automotive actuator ASSPs with embedded flash memory. Safety-critical, high-current dc motor actuator applications, like wipers, seatbelt retractor, steering column lock, electric brakes as well as pumps, heaters and blowers can benefit from Melexis' new line of embedded flash memory microcontrollers. The high temperature capability of the MLX81100 makes it suited for engine flaps like throttle, manifold, turbo and EGR. The MLX81100, like all ‘MelexCM’ products, consists of a 5MIPS dual-task flash CPU die with a dedicated high-voltage die, which integrates voltage regulator, RC oscillator, high-voltage I/Os, LIN transceiver and ADC. Additionally, the MLX81100 has an integrated programmable H-bridge pre-driver with low-side shunt measurement to enhance dc motor control applications

The MLX81100 controls, diagnoses and protects a reversible dc motor application using simple power NMOSFETs. It integrates standard automotive protections to plug it on to the 12 V board net, including overvoltage, short circuit and load dump (40 V) protection. The integrated MOSFET gate driver and FET monitoring circuits on one chip make additional FET pre-driving circuits superfluous and reduces the system's BOM.

The MLX81100 is based on the ‘MelexCM’ platform, a new low-cost integration concept, which was developed for automotive actuator applications. This multichip concept combines two dies in one 6 mm × 6 mm QFN package. The digital die leverages the high gate density of a 0.18 micron flash technology and contains functions like a dual task CPU, timer, PWM and embedded flash memories. The second die is designed in a mixed signal 0.8 micron or 0.35 micron technology and contains all analog and high-voltage blocks like regulator, LIN bus transceivers and output drivers. A dedicated communication interface between dies assures that from the software perspective the peripherals on the analog IC can be accessed in a single instruction. Via SPI or UART interface it is possible to connect external position sensors like the MLX90316 360° absolute position sen-sor. Eight high-voltage-capable I/Os offer a connection to the external world. The 30 μA sleep current makes the MLX81100 suited for applications with stringent standby demands. For software development, a support environment is available including an in-circuit-emulator, GNU C-compiler and high level debugger, evaluation PC board and software library routines. Furthermore, 30 kByte flash memory, 2 Kbyte RAM and 128 Byte EEPROM are available for the customer's software. Other application peripherals include three dual 16-bit capture and compare timer and communication interfaces like an integrated LIN interface including physical and protocol layer, PWM or SPI interface. Engineering samples are available.

Melexis
(603) 223-2362

www.melexis.com

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