In a standard PowerSSO-16 package design, STMicroelectronics has introduced single-, double-, and four-channel automotive high-side gate drivers with pin assignments that make scaling circuit designs to add more driver channels easier. The gate drivers focus on technologies for driving assistance, entertainment, powertrain, comfort, body electronics, and safety across the entire vehicle. The ability to use large loads like engine starters and assure reliable operation even in harsh winter circumstances is made possible by adhering to the automobile industry’s LV124 test schedule for deep cold cranking. These drivers reduce battery depletion when the car is turned off and not in use by operating at very low standby current levels of just a few microamps. The drivers are created utilizing ST’s exclusive VIPower M0-9 technology, which enables high current capability, great efficiency, and deep integration within a tiny die size. Protection features like load-current limiting, load-dump protection up to 35 V, and limitation of fast thermal transients are all available on-chip. Flexible reset management enables the designer to tailor the driver’s responses to errors to best suit the application’s requirements. The drivers’ ability to self-start limits the power dissipation on the PCB to a manageable level, providing reverse-battery protection.
High-accuracy proportional load-current sensing is another feature of automotive diagnostic capabilities that allows for the detection of load defects, such as the disconnection of an LED string. Overload, short-to-ground, short-to-VCC, and off-state open-load detection are further features. Since all diagnostics are kept running whether the driver is on or off, errors can be found even when the load isn’t being supplied. Five single-channel drivers make up the series: VN9004AJ, VN9006AJ, VN9008AJ, VN9012AJ, and VN9016AJ. The VND9008AJ, VND9012AJ, VND9016AJ, and VND9025AJ are the dual-channel drivers. Each channel on the VNQ9025AJ and VNQ9080AJ is four. All are contained in the pin-to-pin compatible PowerSSO-16 package, which has a pin-to-pin compatible footprint measuring 6.00mm x 4.9mm and is only 1.7mm high. They are also compatible with the M0-7 family of the earlier generation. High-side drivers from the new VIPower M0-9 series are now being produced.
