Atmel Introduces Miniature LIN Family with Lowest Power Consumption for Automotive Switch Scan and Ambient Lighting Applications

HEILBRONN, Germany, Nov. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Atmel^® Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML), a leader in microcontroller and touch solutions, today announced the availability of a new LIN family for automotive switch scan applications and in-vehicle ambient lighting control. The new devices, Atmel's ATA664151 and ATA664251, include a broad range of on-chip functionalities that competing solutions can achieve only by combining multiple devices.

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Available in ultra-small packages measuring just 5x5mm and 7x7mm, these new LIN devices significantly reduce the end-application footprint, cutting down the overall cost and development time for automotive ambient lighting applications.

Switch scan applications used in automotive doors, roof modules, and center stacks benefit from an extremely low sleep mode power consumption. The current sources are controlled by three independent pulse-width modulation (PWM) signals, which are ideal for ambient lighting solutions controlling RGB LEDs.

Overview: ATA664151/ ATA664251 LIN Devices

The ATA664151 and ATA664251 LIN devices include an eight-channel high-voltage switch interface with current sources and analog voltage multiplexer to scan switches in automotive applications with currents up to 20mA. The integrated state change detector allows switch scan applications with extremely low current consumption. The current sources are controlled by three independent PWM signals enabling the device to act as an ambient light circuit to control RGB LEDs. A LIN 2.2 and SAEJ2602-2-compliant transceiver, based on Atmel's third-generation LIN transceiver IP with best-in-class EMC immunity as well a low-drop 5V voltage regulator with 80mA current capability and an adjustable window watchdog, are also included.

The ATA664251 is a system-in-package solution with an ATA664151 chip and an Atmel AVR^® 8-bit ATtiny167 microcontroller (MCU). The low-power RISC-based ATtiny167 MCU combines 16KB Flash memory, 512B EEPROM, 512-Byte SRAM, 16 general-purpose I/O lines, 32 general-purpose working registers, 8-bit and 16-bit timer/counter units with compare modes, a universal serial interface (USI), a LIN UART, internal and external interrupts, an 11-channel 10-bit A/D converter and three software selectable power-saving modes.

This combination enables the development of simple, inexpensive, yet powerful nodes for ambient lighting and switch scan applications.

Availability and Pricing

Samples of the ATA664151 and the ATA664251 LIN ICs in small QFN32 (5x5mm, ATA664151) and QFN48 (7x7mm, ATA664251) packages are available now. Pricing starts at US $0.99 (ATA664151) / US $1.79 (ATA664251) for bulk shipments of 10,000-piece quantities. To support engineers and accelerate a quick start with the IC, Atmel provides complete evaluation kits (ATAK42001-V1 for ATA664151 and ATAK43001-V1 for ATA664251).

About Atmel
Atmel Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of microcontrollers, capacitive touch solutions, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is able to provide the electronics industry with complete system solutions focused on industrial, consumer, communications, computing and automotive markets.

© 2012 Atmel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Atmel^®, Atmel logo and combinations thereof, AVR^®, and others are registered trademarks or trademarks of Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other terms and product names may be trademarks of others.

Information:
More information on the Atmel ATA664151 and ATA664251 LIN ICs is available at:
ATA664151: http://www.atmel.com/devices/ATA664151.aspx
ATA664251: http://www.atmel.com/devices/ATA664251.aspx

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Press Contacts:
Dr. Susanne Herchner, Marcom Director Automotive
Phone: +49 7131 67-2081, Email:  [email protected]
Agnes Toan, PR Manager
Phone: +1 408 487-2963, Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Atmel Corporation