ICs & Semiconductors Archives - Page 137 of 230

EPC adds 80 and 200V models to eGaN FET family

Wed, Jun 16, 2021

Two additions to the eGaN FET family by EPC address the needs of e-mobility, delivery and logistic robots and drone markets which require compact brushless DC (BLDC) motor drives and cost-effective, high-resolution time of flight (ToF).

The EPC2065 is an 80V, 3.6mOhm, 221A pulsed eGaN FET in a 7.1mm² chip scale package. The size and efficiency reduce overall power system size and weight, says EPC to make it particularly suitable for 32 to 48V BLDC motor drive applications for e-mobility ebikes and escooters, service, delivery, logistic robots and drones.

In all of these applications, miniaturisation is key and the driver is integrated with the motor in the pursuit of this. The ability to operate with significantly shorter dead times results in less noise and less EMI. eGaN FET is capable of high frequency operation to achieve what is claimed to be the highest density for high frequency DC/DC converters for computing and industrial applications and for synchronous rectification.

The second addition to the family is the EPC2054. This is a 200V, 3.6mOhm, eGaN FET in a tiny 1.69mm² chip scale package. It can deliver 32A pulsed current, despite its small size, with very fast on-off transition times and super small capacitance and inductances. These characteristics make it suitable for industrial lidar / ToF applications.

The low resistance, low switching losses, no reverse recovery charge, fast switching, high frequency capability, and the tiny footprint make the EPC2054 a cost effective and high density FET for a range of applications including high frequency DC/DC, synchronous rectification, wireless power, class D audio, automation, solar and optical.

Alex Lidow, EPC’s co-founder and CEO believes that power system designers will be able to take advantage of these latest eGaN FETs and utilize the high performance, thermally efficient small devices to replace power MOSFETs in a wide variety of applications including emobility, robotics and drones.

The eGaN FETs and related development and reference design boards are available now from Digi-Key.

http://www.epc-co.com

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NFC transceiver open up accessory ID, says STMicroelectronics

Wed, Jun 16, 2021

Accessory identification for a wide range of applications including power tools and personal healthcare devices can be cost-effectively implemented with the ST25R3918 multi-purpose NFC transceiver. Developed by STMicroelectronics it supports passive peer-to-peer functionality and NFC card-emulation mode as well as NFC reader operation.

According to STMicroelectronics, it delivers most of the functionality of the company’s ST25R3916 NFC reader at a competitive price. The ST25R3918 ST25R3918 interacts seamlessly with ST25 tags and its close relationship to the ST25R3916 simplifies hardware design and certification.

The transceiver supports NFC-A and NFC-F card emulation and can be used as an NFC-A/B (ISO 14443A/B) card reader up to high bit rates, and as an NFC-V (ISO 15693) reader up to 53kbits per second. It can also be used as an ISO 18092 passive initiator and target.

The card emulation mode allows support for the newest features available on mobile phones, ST adds. Phones can interact with applications that use the ST25R3918, including using a simple tap to start apps on the phone. Device programming and simple NFC data exchange format (NDEF) data transfers are also permitted. In addition, users can leverage special stream and transparent modes of the analogue front end (AFE) and framing system to implement other custom protocols in card-reader and card emulation modes.

Combined with the reader mode, the ST25R3918 allows scanning for nearby tags for tasks such as replaceable detection and parameter setting, or simply reading an access card. The user can interact with the mobile phone while collecting data on customer behaviour and accessories used, which adds an additional stream of information for product development.

The ST25R3918 transceiver has high sensitivity and ST’s Noise Suppression Receiver (NSR) technology for extended read range. It can be operated with output power around 0.5W in noisy and harsh environments. The ST25R3918 also includes a low-power card-detection mode to scan for the presence of a card by measuring the amplitude or phase of the antenna signal. A low power RC oscillator and wake-up timer automatically reactivates the ST25R3918 after a selected time period to check for the presence of a tag.

Other features include support for dynamic power output (DPO), which automatically controls the field strength to meet the required limits. There is also active wave shaping (AWS) to smooth the waveform for better signal integrity.

The ST25R3918 operates from a wide power-supply voltage range of 2.6 to 5.5V between -40 and +85 degrees C, and 2.4 to 5.5V in the temperature range from -20 to +85 degrees C, with a peripheral I/O voltage range of 1.65 to 5.5V.

The ST25R3918 is available now

https://www.st.com

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Automotive window voltage monitor has BIST for ADAS

Tue, Jun 15, 2021

Built-in self test (BIST) for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) is included in the MAX16137 analogue supervisor. Maxim Integrated claims it is an industry-first.

The supervisor reduces the size and complexity of ADAS in vehicles, says the company, with the single-window voltage monitor with BIST.

The window monitor IC tracks both under-voltage and over-voltage levels with one per cent accuracy. This protects the ADAS and allows designers to accelerate system-wide functional safety by providing advanced diagnostics and reset capabilities.

Voltage monitors play a key role in reporting the health of power supplies for ADAS in vehicles. These systems must include test circuits to ensure reliable operation. The MAX16137 delivers both diagnostic and BIST at the chip level to help designers achieve system-wide functional safety faster for ADAS and other autonomous driving applications, says Maxim.

The MAX16137 BIST features check the supervisor functionality without the need for external circuitry, which reduces design complexity. The MAX16137 also reduces solution size by 50 per cent compared to the closest competitive solution, Maxim claims. The supervisory IC can be designed into a variety of automotive systems such as infotainment, body electronics, power, electric vehicle power powertrain and IoT systems.

The MAX16137 is available via Maxim Integrated’s website and authorised distributors. The company also offers the MAX16137EVKIT# evaluation kit.

Maxim Integrated is an engineering company for engineers. It has a broad portfolio of high performance semiconductors, combined with tools and support; it, delivers essential analogue solutions including efficient power, precision measurement, reliable connectivity and robust protection along with intelligent processing. Designers in application areas such as automotive, communications, consumer, data centre, healthcare, industrial and IoT work with Maxim to quickly develop smaller, smarter and more secure designs.

http://www.maximintegrated.com

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Xilinx claims world’s highest AI performance for Versal AI Edge chipset

Thu, Jun 10, 2021

Designed to enable AI innovation from the edge to the endpoint, the Versal AI Edge is Xilinx’s AI chipset which has four times the AI performance per watt than graphics processing units (GPUs) and 10x greater compute density than the Zynq Ultrascale+, says the company. The Versal AI Edge series is the world’s most scalable and adaptable portfolio for next-generation distributed intelligent systems, claims Xilinx.

The latest addition to Xilinx’s Versal ACAP portfolio of adaptive SoCs, the Versal AI Edge devices can be used for automated driving systems with the highest levels of functional safety (ASIL D). They can also be used for collaborative robotics, predictive factory and healthcare systems, and multi-mission aerospace and defence payloads, says Xilinx. The powerful AI engines have an enhanced memory hierarchy to deliver up to four times the machine learning (ML) compute performance per W compared with GPUs. They also have lower latency, continues Xilinx.

AI-enabled automated systems require high compute density that can accelerate whole applications from sensor to AI to real-time control. In addition to the increased compute density, enabling more intelligent autonomous systems, Versal AI Edge devices support multiple safety standards across automotive (ISO 26262), industrial (IEC 61508), and avionics (DO-254/178) markets.

The Versal AI Edge series takes the production-proven, 7nm Versal architecture and miniaturises it for AI compute at low latency, with power efficiency as low as 5W together with safety and security measures required in edge applications. The Versal AI Edge series matches the engine to the algorithm, with scalar engines for embedded compute, adaptable engines for sensor fusion and hardware adaptability, and intelligent engines for AI inference and advanced signal processing workloads ranging from beam forming and radar/lidar processing.

Connectivity blocks range from LPDDR-4266, 32Gbits per second transceivers to meet all the necessary protocols in edge applications, 40G multi-rate Ethernet, PCIe Gen4 with CCIX, and native MIPI support for vision sensors at up to 8Mpixel resolution, which is critical to Level-3 ADAS and above. The enhanced memory hierarchy which includes Accelerator RAM, makes the Versal AI Edge series suitable for a wider range of applications across numerous markets, according to Xilinx.

Versal AI Edge devices provide a design entry points for developers, including Vivado for hardware developers, the Vitis unified software platform for software developers, Vitis AI for data scientists, and complete software stacks for the platform’s target applications, including domain-specific operating systems, frameworks, and acceleration libraries.

Versal AI Edge series design documentation and support is available to early access customers, with shipments expected during the first half of 2022, and a roadmap for automotive- and defense-grade devices.

http://www.xilinx.com

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EPC adds 80 and 200V models to eGaN FET family

NFC transceiver open up accessory ID, says STMicroelectronics

Automotive window voltage monitor has BIST for ADAS

Xilinx claims world’s highest AI performance for Versal AI Edge chipset

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