Atmel Introduces High Voltage BCDMOS Load Driver

    HEILBRONN, Germany--Nov. 6, 2001--Atmel(R) Corporation introduced today a new member of its general-purpose BCDMOS load driver family based on the U6815BM. The new T6816 is extremely flexible and well-suited to drive actuators as well as lamps in a broad range of automotive and industrial applications. The IC is manufactured in Atmel's 0.8-micron BCDMOS process to support operations up to 40 Volt. This technology is optimized especially for applications in harsh environments.
    In contrast to the U6815BM, the T6816 has no overvoltage detection and shut-off. This enables the T6816 to make use of the entire supply voltage range of 7 V up to 40 V for operation. Due to this extended supply voltage range, the new load driver IC is well suited for driver applications in truck and bus electronic systems, such as the motor control for airflow control flaps in air conditioning systems, and for control applications in the 24-V industrial net. The device can be used in most microcontroller sub-systems that control several high- and low-side loads (up to 12).
    The load driver's six high-side and six low-side driver stages can directly support 600 mA each, typically. The driver stages provide an on-resistance of RDSON (is less than) 2 Ohm at Tj = 150 (degree) C (high side) and RDSON (is less than) 1.5 Ohm at Tj = 150 (degree) C (low side). The software-controlled delay time for short-circuit detection is t = 12 ms to avoid overload of the output stages.
    The intelligent load driver is fully protected against open loads, short circuits, undervoltage and overtemperature. The diagnostic block reports via a serial 16-bit input interface all malfunctions to the microcontroller and enables the system to take appropriate counter measures. A special feature is the controller's ability to shut-down the entire circuit via software inhibit. This saves an external line that is necessary with other solutions. For applications where the IC is connected to the car's battery, the controller is able via its serial interface to set the driver IC into standby mode (less than 40 microampere), and also to wake up again.
    The new load driver meets the strict automotive qualification demands (protection against conducted interferences, EMC and 2-kV ESD protection) and withstands transients according to ISO/TR 7637/1.
    Samples of the T6816 in SO28 packages with 8 fused leads and PC-based demo tools including hard- and software are available. Pricing for the IC starts at $2.25 (at 10 k).

    About Atmel

    Founded in 1984, Atmel Corporation is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with manufacturing facilities in North America and Europe. Atmel designs, manufactures and markets worldwide, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and RF semiconductors. Atmel is also a leading provider of system-level integration semiconductor solutions using CMOS, BiCMOS, bipolar SiGe, and high-voltage BCDMOS process technologies.

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    Information Atmel's high voltage BCDMOS product information may be retrieved at www.atmel-wm.com For more information on the T6816 go to: http://www.atmel-wm.com/products/gab_prod_card.php3?id=1301