ST reveals advanced automotive IC moving car makers closer to toughest new-car environmental targets

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND: STMicroelectronics has perfected one of the world's first automotive ICs supporting advanced networking technology to unlock valuable improvements in fuel efficiency and emissions.

The chip will help car makers respond to changing new-car legislation in major markets worldwide, aiming to save fuel and reduce emissions. In Europe, Euro 6 regulations will replace Euro 5 in 2014, and the average CO2 emissions limit will fall to 95g/km by 2020. Chinese 4 standards, similar to Euro 4, came into force in China in 2011 and the city of Beijing is planning to adopt Chinese 5. In the USA, Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) requirements for passenger cars will increase from 30.4 to 37.8 mpg by 2016 and 50.6 mpg by 2025.

To meet these increasingly stringent regulations while continuing to deliver exciting new products for customers, car makers are pursuing many ways to improve fuel efficiency. One of these is to reduce the energy consumed by systems such as door electronics and climate controls. ST's new IC achieves this by allowing modules to be turned off individually when not being used, taking advantage of "partial networking." This is a new feature in the latest CAN specification, ISO 11898-6, and could reduce an average vehicle's CO2 emission by more than 2g/km.

The new chip, the L99PM72PXP, extends ST's existing automotive CAN/LIN transceiver portfolio and is among the first ICs in the market to support partial networking. It is the product of close cooperation between ST and a notable German car maker, which will be the first customer to use this device in its cars. ST is part of a consortium of leading automotive semiconductor companies and German car manufacturers driving adoption of ISO 11898-6.

"Authorities worldwide are setting progressively tougher environmental performance targets for new cars, and car makers must maximize efficiency throughout the vehicle in order to comply," said Marco Monti, ST Automotive Electronics Division General Manager. "Integrating new partial networking provides a head start of around 2g/km CO2 in the drive to meet the new standards."

The L99PM72PXP is housed in a PowerSSO-36 package and is scheduled for volume production in Q3 2012, priced at $2.95 for orders up to 1000 units. Alternative pricing options may be available for larger order quantities.

The L99PM72PXP is a new member in ST's family of power management system ICs. By integrating both High-Speed CAN (HS-CAN) and LIN physical layers, it provides all the functions needed to build up a complete Electronic Control Unit (ECU) for car body applications. Its features are tailored to particular uses such as in climate control modules and door control units, as well as seat modules, trunk and trailer modules, sunroof and rear-view modules.

Unlike standard CAN transceivers or system-basis chips currently on the market, the L99PM72PXP is able to monitor the CAN bus autonomously, without the module's main processor being active. It activates the module only when a correctly addressed wake-up signal is detected. By allowing parts of the CAN network to be deactivated in this way, the L99PM72PXP contributes to reduce overall electrical energy consumption.

Advanced fail-safe functionality is an additional, and unique, feature of the L99PM72PXP, which improves the sustainability and reliability of automotive electronic control units. Built-in features such as supervision of the MCU, supply voltages and temperatures provide protection against causes of failure. In addition, cost-efficient peripheral functions such as high-side and low-side gate drivers, operational amplifiers and voltage regulators reduce the number of external components and lower overall system costs.