Next-gen CAN transceivers boost energy efficiency, robustness

Infineon has debuted the latest generation of its high-speed CAN transceivers designed for automotive network applications. The TLE7250 family comprises the TLE7250G and the TLE7250GVIO.

The TLE7250G interfaces with 5V microcontrollers, the TLE7250GVIO has a voltage reference input, enabling either a 5 or a 3.3V microcontroller I/O interface. Compared to the previous generation, the new transceivers offer improved immunity against Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) for the 1MHz to 1GHz frequency range and reduced Electromagnetic Emission (EME) between 150kHz and 1GHz. These devices also feature an ESD robustness of at least ±8kV according to IEC61000-4-2.

Due to its high impedance when unpowered, the TLE7250 transceiver family reduces the CAN Bus leakage current to 5µA in power down mode. Combined with a low quiescent current of less than 15µA (at 5V stand-by) this leads to improved energy efficiency. Optimized for passive behavior in the power-down state, the TLE7250G and TLE7250GVIO are suitable for mixed supply CAN networks.

Transceivers connect all the different Electronic Control Units (ECUs) on the In-Vehicle Network (IVN) architecture and are key contributors of the data exchange in automotive applications. As an interface between the physical bus layer and CAN protocol controller, the TLE7250G and the TLE7250GVIO drive the signals to the bus and protect the microcontroller against interferences generated within the network.

”Introducing the new High Speed CAN TLE7250 transceivers we built up on the success of the previous generation providing further improved robustness and energy efficiency, resulting in both increased reliability and less CO2 emissions on vehicle level,” said Frank Schwertlein, VP and general manager for standard power in the Automotive division at Infineon Technologies AG.

All members of the TLE7250 transceiver family are based on the Smart Power Technology (SPT) developed by Infineon. SPT combines the benefits of bipolar and CMOS control circuitry with DMOS power devices on the same monolithic circuit. The TLE7250G and TLE7250GVIO as well as the SPT technology are all AEC qualified and tailored to withstand the harsh automotive environment.

Providing data transmission rates up to 1Mbaud, the TLE7250 transceiver family is designed for large CAN networks with high data transmission rates because of its fail-safe features, optimized output slew rates of the CANH and CANL signals, and their different operating modes: Normal, receive only, and stand-by, which each have special characteristics for quiescent current and data transmission.

The TLE7250G and the TLE7250GVIO are compliant to ISO11898-2 and fulfill the German OEM hardware requirements specification V1.3 of May 2012. In addition, the Infineon TLE7250 transceiver family fulfills the latest global ESD and EMC requirements, enabling the usage in global ECU platform designs.

The new CAN transceiver ICs provide several features to ensure safe, cost effectiveness and efficient operation. Besides short circuit protection of the bus lines to GND battery and VCC they are protected against automotive transients. With the reduced short circuit current of maximum 100mA the TLE7250G and TLE7250GVIO enable halving the current requirement of the 5V voltage regulator with related system cost savings. The TxD timeout functionality provides a secure solution, so that the CAN Bus is not blocked by a software fault, microcontroller failure, or short circuit at the TxD signal.

Availability
The TLE7250G and TLE7250GVIO transceivers are pin and functional compatible to the previous generation (TLE6250G and TLE6250GV33) and already in production. Both devices are shipped in a RoHS compliant PG-DSO-8 package.

Further information about the Infineon automotive transceivers is available at www.infineon.com/transceiver.

Also, data sheets on the TLE7250G and TLE7250GVIO are available here and here, respectively.

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