New automotive-grade, AEC-Q100 certified programmable power management solutions from Lattice

The folks at Lattice Semiconductor say that automotive versions of their second-generation Power Manager II product family, the popular ispPAC-POWR1014 and ispPAC-POWR1014A, have been characterized and qualified to meet the certification requirements of the AEC-Q100 standard as defined by the Automotive Electronics Council (AEC).

The Power Manager II family is a functional superset of Lattice's ispPAC Power Manager programmable mixed signal devices, which provide a complete power management solution for a printed circuit board (PCB) through an optimized set of programmable digital and analog functions.

Lattice AEC-Q100 qualified devices are designated as Lattice Automotive, or "LA." These devices join the previously announced LA-MachXO Crossover Programmable Logic Devices, the LA-ispMACH 4000V and LA-ispMACH 4000Z CPLDs in Lattice's growing automotive product portfolio. Production quantities of the new devices will be available later in Q1 2008, and Lattice can provide standard PPAP (Production Part Approval Process) documentation to automotive customers who require it.

The ispPAC-POWR1014 device replaces power management functions typically requiring multiple ICs, including Reset Generators, Voltage Supervisors, Sequencers and Trackers. In addition, the ispPAC-POWR1014A device replaces Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) ICs used for power supply voltage measurements, controlled through a standard I²C interface.

All Power Manager devices provide a standard, off-the-shelf programmable mixed signal solution for power management that enhances reliability and speeds time-to-market. Analog features such as input comparator thresholds and digital functions such as supply control sequences are programmed into non-volatile E²CMOS elements on the devices using an IEEE1149.1 protocol.

Automotive electronics are becoming more sophisticated, and there is a need for the use of multiple complex ASIC, ASSP, and FPGA devices on these boards. These devices complicate the power management algorithm, and current simple single-function power management ICs are no longer able to provide a reliable solution. The Power Manager II device is not only able to meet the power management needs of these complex boards, but also increases system reliability by monitoring supply faults with high accuracy.

Architecture of the POWR1014/A
The LA-ispPAC-POWR1014 device integrates a 24 Macrocell PLD and dual precision voltage monitoring comparators with an accuracy of 0.3%.

In addition, the POWR1014A device integrates a 10-bit Analog to Digital Converter (ADC) for voltage measurements and an I²C interface that enables a microcontroller or processor to read the status of all the comparators (inputs as well as outputs).

Both the POWR1014 and POWR1014A devices have been ruggedized to operate across a wide range of power supply voltage from 2.8V to 3.96V.

Software support
Designs for the LA-ispPAC-POWR1014 and the LA-ispPAC-POWR1014A are implemented using the Windows-based Lattice PAC-Designer Software version 4.98.

The PAC-Designer 4.98 software is available for download free of charge from the Lattice website at www.latticesemi.com.

Availability and pricing
In high volume (100KU+), prices for the LA-ispPAC-POWR1014/A devices in the 48-pin PB-free TQFP package and automotive temperature range are as low as $2.25 for delivery in the second half of 2008. Samples are available now.