750V SiC FETs in D2PAK extend Qorvo’s portfolio

Seven surface mount devices in the space saving D2PAK package have been added to Qorvo’s (formerly UnitedSiC) portfolio. The 750V SiC FETs are supplied in the surface mount D2PAK-7L package and are intended for onboard chargers, soft-switched DC/DC converters, battery charging (fast DC and industrial) and IT / server power supplies. According to Qorvo, they are suitable for high power applications that require maximum efficiency, low conduction losses and excellent cost effectiveness in a thermally enhanced package.

The Gen 4 UJ4/SC FETs are claimed to have the industry’s lowest RDS(on) of 9 mOhm at 650/750V. The 750V SiC FETs that make up the Gen 4 UJ4C/SC series are rated at 9.0, 11, 18, 23, 33, 44 and 60mOhm. According to Qorvo, this selection means that engineers have the flexibility to choose the device that can enable optimum cost/efficiency balance while maintaining generous design margins and circuit robustness. 

The latest additions use the cascode SiC FET technology introduced by UnitedSiC whereby a normally-on SiC JFET is co-packaged with a Si MOSFET to produce a normally-off SiC FET for low conduction losses in a small die.

Anup Bhalla, chief engineer at Qorvo, said, “The D2PAK-7L package reduces inductance from compact internal connection loops which ─ along with the included Kelvin source connection ─ results in low switching loss, enabling higher frequency operation and improved system power density. These devices also feature silver-sinter die attach, resulting in very low thermal resistance for maximum heat extraction on standard PCBs as well as IMS [insulated metal substrates] with liquid cooling.”

The 750V Gen 4 SiC FETs are available now in the D2PAK-7L package.

Qorvo provides radio frequency (RF) products, combining technology, systems-level expertise and global manufacturing to address complex technical challenges. Qorvo serves diverse market segments, including advanced wireless devices, wired and wireless networks and defence radar and communications. It also operates in the 5G networks, cloud computing, the IoT space and other emerging applications.

http://www.qorvo.com  

> Read More

Low capacitance diodes protect automotive data interfaces 

Robust ESD (electrostatic discharge) protection diodes have been added to Nexperia’s portfolio of low clamping and low capacitance ESD protection diodes. This portfolio is designed to protect high speed data lines such as USB 3.2, HDMI 2.0, LVDS, automotive A/V monitors, displays and cameras. It also aims to address the upcoming high speed video links and the OPEN Alliance MGbit Ethernet applications. 

The PESD5V0C1BLS-Q and PESD5V0C1ULS-Q are both two-pin single line devices supplied in compact DFN1006BD-2 packages. This is intended to optimise routing. The other new additions are the PESD5V0C2UM and PESD5V0C2UM-Q which are available as three-pin devices for both differential lines. They are supplied in a DFN1006-3 package which has side wettable flanks to enable automated optical inspection (AOI). 

All variants come in leadless packages to improve electrical performance and signal integrity.

ESD voltage clamping diodes protect data interfaces in automotive subsystems but developers have to be careful that they do not degrade data signal integrity or negatively impact the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) performance of the systems. Nexperia claimed these diodes offer best-in-class signal integrity performance with capacitance as low as 0.3pF. 

These AEC-Q101 automotive-qualified devices exhibit deep snapback behaviour combined with a low resistance of 0.27 Ohm, for system level robustness and clamping performance in high speed data interfaces, said Nexperia.

Nexperia produces semiconductors: diodes, bipolar transistors, ESD protection devices, MOSFETs, GaN FETs and analogue and logic ICs. 

Headquartered in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, Nexperia meets the stringent standards set by the automotive industry. The company has employees across Asia, Europe and the USA. 

Nexperia is a subsidiary of Wingtech Technology and has an extensive IP portfolio and is certified to IATF 16949, ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001.

http://www.nexperia.com

> Read More

Farnell stocks BeagleBone AI-64 SBC 

BeagleBoard.org’s first 64bit open hardware single board computer (SBC) the BeagleBone AI-64 SBC is available from stock from Farnell (in EMEA, Newark in North America and element14 in APAC).

It is designed for building embedded applications and brings a complete artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning system to developers, said Farnell.

“We believe this board will capture the imaginations of designers and empower them to build complete and powerful AI systems,” said Christine Long, CEO of the BeagleBoard.org Foundation. She continued that it is offered at “an extremely competitive price point, we are excited about the new applications that BeagleBone AI-64 will enable for new and experienced users.”

The BeagleBone AI-64 SBC provides all the on-board peripherals required to start learning and building applications. The BeagleBone cape headers provide expansion possibilities with hundreds of open source hardware examples and dozens of off-the-shelf embedded expansion options. The user needs only to add a simple web browser, power source and network connection, confirmed the company. 

The SBC is described as a milestone for BeagleBoard.org by Jason Kridner, president of the BeagleBoard.org Foundation board. “With multiple SuperSpeed USB ports, familiar BeagleBone cape expansion headers and desktop-capable performance, the general purpose embedded applications for this board are endless, with eight TOPS [terra operations per second] neural network performance accessible through familiar Python libraries to boot.”

BeagleBone AI-64 builds on more than a decade of success in open hardware single board Linux computers. It combines the power of the Texas Instruments TDA4VM SoC with dual Arm Cortex-A72 cores, a programmable C7x DSP core and deep learning, vision and multimedia accelerators to offer developers access to fast analytics, data storage options and high speed interfaces. In addition to “a vast amount of computing power”, the SBC includes connectors to create applications such as autonomous robots and drones, smart buildings and factories, home security, retail automation, media servers, machine learning, machine vision and computer vision.

The BeagleBone AI-64 board feature set includes the BeagleBone cape header compatibility with existing add-on boards and ikroBUS Shuttle header, providing access to hundreds of existing Click sensors and actuators. The memory capability is 4Gbyte LPDDR4, 6Gbyte eMMC flash with high speed interface and a MicroSD card. An M.2 E-key PCIe connector interfaces with Wi-Fi / Bluetooth adapters and there is a USB 3.0 Type-C SuperSpeed interface for power input and data and two USB 3.0 Type-A SuperSpeed interfaces and Gigabit Ethernet.

For camera and display options there is a Mini DisplayPort interface, a two or four-lane CSI connector for camera options, and a four-Lane DSI connector for popular display types.

User interfaces include boot, reset and power buttons, a power indication LED and five user LEDs. In addition, there is a 5V DC input power, UART and JTAG 10pin Tag-Connect for debug also included.

In addition to the TDA4VM, there are vision processing accelerators with an image signal processor (ISP) and multiple vision assist accelerators including DMPAC, dual 64-bit Arm Cortex-A72 microprocessors, six Arm Cortex-R5F MCUs at up to 1.0GHz, memory subsystem with up to 8Mbyte of on-chip L3 RAM with ECC and coherency and 12 multi-channel audio serial port modules. 

http://www.element14.com

> Read More

Pluggable transceiver module provides optical GbE in vehicles

KDPOF has developed and validated the first 1000BASE-RH SFP module for optical Gbit connectivity in vehicles. The small form factor pluggable (SFP) transceiver module is based on a standard SFP supporting multi-source agreement registers via I2C bus. The module can operate at 100 and 1,000Mbit per second. It integrates the whole 1000BASE-RHC PHY and the header connector for SI-POF optical harness. 

The SFP module has been tested and validated in a functional demo. According to Carlos Pardo, CEO and co-founder of KDPOF, who described it as the first milestone for future commercial optical 1000BASE-RH SFP modules, for integration into the optical ecosystem in automotives. 

The SFP supports 1000BASE-X, 100BASE-X, and SGMII (with and without auto-negotiation) as electrical interfaces. It monitors the received optical power, the link margin, the junction temperature, and the supply voltages, among others.

The SFP design has been sampled and validated. KDPOF and Ethernet network testing and visibility tool company, Aukua Systems, are collaborating to optimise the 1000BASE-RHC SFP and make it available in Q3 2022.

Fabless semiconductor supplier KDPOF provides high speed optical networking for harsh environments. Making Gbit communications over fibre optics a reality, KDPOF technology supplies 1Gbit per second POF links for automotive, industrial, and home networks. KDPOF was founded in 2010 in Madrid, Spain, and offers technology as either ASSP or intellectual property (IP) to be integrated in SoCs. The adaptive system works with a range of optoelectronics and low cost large core optical fibres, which provide carmakers low risk, low cost and short time-to-market, claimed the company.

https://www.kdpof.com

> Read More

About Smart Cities

This news story is brought to you by smartcitieselectronics.com, the specialist site dedicated to delivering information about what’s new in the Smart City Electronics industry, with daily news updates, new products and industry news. To stay up-to-date, register to receive our weekly newsletters and keep yourself informed on the latest technology news and new products from around the globe. Simply click this link to register here: Smart Cities Registration