Freescale Announces New Octal Serial Switch Family for Automotive Electronics
Freescale Semiconductor announced that it is bringing enhanced load control capability to designers of automotive driver instrumentation, body control modules and other in-vehicle electronics applications. The company's family of advanced MC338xx and MC3399x octal serial switch integrated circuits (ICs) is designed to manage control of multiple high-side loads, reduce board space and enhance automotive electronics system reliability.
As body control module capabilities grow more sophisticated, automotive designers must develop electronic systems that can detect a variety of vehicle conditions and act quickly to control multiple loads across a wide range of body applications. Freescale's octal serial switch IC family provides the control flexibility designers need. The family is designed to control low-current on/off type inductive loads, such as relays and solenoids, as well as LED indicators and small lamps with integral thermal and over-voltage, over-current protection.
"Freescale's octal serial switch family is taking automotive power distribution to a new level of versatility," said Arman Naghavi, Vice President and General Manager of Freescale's Analog, Mixed-Signal and Power Division. "As the need to control multiple dc loads grows increasingly common, the ability to configure multiple outputs quickly and efficiently has become a sought-after feature. Our serial switch family, with up to 16 outputs and advanced self-configuration capabilities, effectively addresses this technical challenge."
Freescale's MC338xx and MC3399x devices reduce the number of necessary components and simplify body electronics designs, providing flexibility, load protection, and weight and size savings. Interior lighting control application solutions have typically employed multiple load-carrying switches (one switch for each lamp) or use discrete semiconductor power devices to power each lamp. Another common body application, power door locks, uses multiple electrical power door lock solenoids (one for each passenger door).
Freescale's octal serial switch IC family is available now in production quantities. Suggested per-unit resale pricing (USD) in10,000-piece quantities are: MC33879 8-channel single octal serial switch at $1.83; MC33880 8-channel single octal serial switch at $2.01; MC33996 16-channel dual octal serial switch at $2.75; and MC33999 16-channel dual octal serial switch at $3.48.
