New Industry Products

Low-Power Voltage Regulator System IC for Automotive Applications

November 30, 2005 by Jeff Shepard

EM Microelectronic (Marin, Switzerland), an electronic systems company of the Swatch Group, introduced the EM6152, a highly-integrated intelligent system power IC. The EM6152 is said to be the only system power IC that incorporates a multi-mode windowed watchdog timer, reset logic and 5V low dropout automotive voltage regulator with up to 400mA output current capability. The EM6152 is automotive qualified according to AEC-Q100 and can support operation up to 40 volts. It comes in a compact 8-pin SO8 package (regulator current output up to 100mA) and PSOP-16 "power package" (current output up to 400mA). The EM6152 operates over the temperature range from -40 °C to +125 °C, making it compatible with the demanding temperature extremes in automotive and industrial environments. It is considered ideal for use in high-reliability and mission-critical applications.

"As more and more electronic modules and systems are used in a car, it becomes increasingly important to to use low power voltage regulators with sleep mode in order to prevent draining the car battery," stated Mougahed Darwish, president of the management board of EM Microelectronic. "As a leader in the field of low power ICs and a dedicated supplier to the automotive industry, EM is proud to introduce the EM6152 which draws only 145µA quiescent current and features increased robustness against ESD and latch-up. In its 'power package', this circuit is particularly well suited for applications where linear regulators cause excessive power dissipation."

The EM6152's time-windowed watchdog function is claimed to recognize more faults than the standard watchdogs used with microprocessors, covering hardware errors as well as software errors such as code executing too slowly or too quickly. Timings of the watchdog function are programmable using one external resistor to set the power-on reset delay and the watchdog time. The ratio for the close/open watchdog window is factory programmable. In addition, the reset threshold voltage is also programmable using an external two-resistor voltage divider.

Three versions are available: the V53, which comes with a large "open" watchdog window (67% of total watchdog window), making it easier for the software programmer to issue a pulse to service the watchdog; the V50, with a smaller "open" watchdog window (33%), offering increased security in the application; and the V55, which offers a Controller Area Network bus (CAN-bus) sleep mode detector. In a typical automotive or industrial application, a central processor can issue a general "sleep" instruction to all EM6152V55-equipped peripheral modules. In sleep mode, the EM6152V55 will greatly reduce the rate that they generate reset signals. This reduces power drain when the system is off and extends battery life, which is a tremendous benefit for vehicles and equipment that is garaged or off-line for periods of days or weeks at a time.

The EM6152 also features an increased confidence ENABLE output that can be used to drive critical control functions or to gate motor signals. This signal is only asserted after the software has successfully cleared the watchdog three times.

The combined multi-mode effect of supply voltage surveillance, watchdog timing surveillance and system enable output is intended to provide extreme reliability and security in critical microprocessor-controlled automotive, transportation, robotic and industrial control applications. This is also claimed to eliminate the need for redundant microprocessors that supervise each other. In automotive applications, EM6152 is used to monitor the microprocessors that control electronic cockpit security and the steering column as well as other functions such as trunk closure systems, electrical spoiler control, and electrical seat, dashboard, sunroof, rear-view mirror and window controls. Industrial applications include automated teller machines (ATMs), robotics and process control equipment. The EM6152 intelligent system power IC with LDO is available in SO8 and PSOP-16 packages.