Philips Semiconductors Announces New High-Speed Can Transceiver

28 September 1999

Philips Semiconductors Announces New High-Speed Can Transceiver for Automotive Networks; Devices Pave the Way to More Extensive Use of In-Vehicle Networks

    SUNNYVALE, Calif.--Sept. 27, 1999--Philips Semiconductors today announced a new high-speed Controller Area Network (CAN) transceiver, the TJA1050. Offering greatly improved electromagnetic emission (EME) and electromagnetic immunity (EMI) performance, the TJA1050, with its optimized feature set, is targeted primarily for power-train applications in the automotive industry.
    The new CAN transceiver paves the way for more extensive use of in-vehicle networks by simplifying design-in and reducing overall system costs. This allows manufacturers to offer enhanced functionality in basic model types and increased product differentiation. With the introduction of the TJA1050, Philips Semiconductors extends its offering of industry-standard high-speed CAN transceivers and reinforces its overall position as the world leader in CAN transceivers and In-Vehicle Network (IVN) technologies, in general.
    "Philips Semiconductors' recently announced fault-tolerant CAN transceiver showed significant EMC performance improvement. As a result, we decided to build a new high-speed device utilizing the same unique Silicon on Insulator (SOI) process," said Jeroen Gerlings, international product marketing manager for Philips Semiconductors.
    "This new design optimizes the feature set for automotive applications, creating a device with enhanced performance while remaining fully pin-compatible with the de facto standard PCA82C250T and PCA82C251T. With the improved EMC performance offered by the TJA1050, the commonly used suppressor coils (choke) in transceiver designs can be eliminated. Although it is currently still under test, Philips Semiconductors is confident that the TJA1050 will deliver a substantial performance/cost benefit to all its customers as well as opening the way to increased use of partial networking."
    The TJA1050 has dedicated circuitry to ensure that bus lines are not blocked by a hardware or software fault in an application, preventing errors that can potentially stop all network communication. If network communication is interrupted, the transceiver forces itself back to a recessive state by utilizing a built-in "TxD dominant time out" timer circuit, allowing all other nodes to continue communicating so the network can remain functional.
    Independently, the TJA1050 incorporates a dedicated pin ("S"--silent mode) that allows the microcontroller to mute the transmitter, allowing the node to continue receiving messages while ensuring that only useful data is placed on the bus lines. The behavior of the transceiver has also been improved to keep un-powered nodes from disturbing bus communication.
    The TJA1050 is the interface between the CAN protocol controller and the physical bus wires, and provides differential bus transmit capability to the bus and differential receive capability to the CAN controller. Primarily intended for high-speed automotive applications up to 1 Mbits/s, the TJA1050 is fully compatible with the ISO 11898 standard.
    In addition to the EMC immunity achieved using the unique SOI process, EMI has been lowered even further with optimal matching of the CANL and CANH bus outputs. Current limiting and a temperature protection circuit also protect the transmitter from overloading, and both CANH and CANL lines are protected from automotive electrical transients and Electrostatic Discharge (ESD).
    The TJA1050 is available in an SO8 package and engineering samples will be available in Q4 1999. Full production is scheduled for Q1/Q2 2000 and is priced at $0.74 in quantities of 10,000.

    About Philips Semiconductors

    Philips Semiconductors, a subsidiary of Philips Electronics North America Corporation and an affiliate of Royal Philips Electronics, headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is the eighth largest semiconductor supplier based on Dataquest's 1998 report(1). Philips Semiconductors' innovations in digital audio, video, and mobile technology position the company as a leader in the consumer, multimedia and wireless communications markets.
    Sales offices are located in all major markets around the world and are supported by systems labs. Additional information on Philips Semiconductors can be found on the home page at www.semiconductors.philips.com or by calling 1-800-447-1500 ext. 1823.


(1)  Based on Vendor Revenue from Shipments of Total Semiconductors
     Worldwide according to Dataquest's 1998 Worldwide Semiconductor
     Market ś Share report published in May, 1999.