Half the Size, Twice the Current: Configurable SPI Power Controllers

Infineon Technologies AG is launching a new generation of its multichannel SPI high-side power controllers SPOC™. Today, this product family is leading the market for multichannel high-side smart switches in automotive exterior lighting applications.

The new SPOC™ series is designed to address interior and exterior lighting applications but also power distribution applications such as door lock and seat heating, as well as lighting and power distribution loads for e-bikes.

Similar to the body control module (BCM) of 15 years ago, other in-car ECUs such as junction, fuse and relay boxes now start to become increasingly complex, supporting more features. "With our new flexible configurable, highly integrated multi-channel SPOC products we will help our customers reduce hardware variants and module size, thus lowering costs and allowing for smaller vehicle packaging locations," says Andreas Doll, Vice President and General Manager of Infineon's Body Power Business Unit.

"In 2019, we plan to ship roughly 100 million SPOC products. Statistically, every new car in the world will be equipped with our solution," concluded Doll.

Application Diagram of BTS72220-4ESE (click on diagram to enlarge)

A number of new features make the SPOC+2 family more flexible for implementation within the application. For example, previous generations were equipped with two pre-defined modes for either bulb or LED loads. Now, important device parameters including slew rate, load current sense ratio (K ILIS) and overload detection current can be configured individually for each of the up to six channels.

Moreover, this comes without negative effects on the on-state resistance R DS(ON). Furthermore, the new concept allows two channels to drive one load in parallel. Consequently, the range of supported currents is now twice as wide: 1.5A to 14A (previously 1.5A to 7A).

With the new generation, customers can easily switch between all products of the SPOC+2 family, for example in case of late requirement changes from an OEM. All products use a common pin out, a common software concept and now also the same package. Compared to the previous generation, Infineon reduced the package size for the high-end product BTS72220-4ESA/E by more than 50 percent.

Therefore, with a body size of 52mm 2 all products of the SPOC+2 family need half the footprint area compared to alternative devices on the market with the ability to switch up to 241W.

SPOC+2 products come with an integrated ground diode, which allows an easier and cheaper solution on system level. No additional external ground diode is required, thus the ground circuit only requires a small low power resistor (47Ω instead of 100Ω).

The new product family offers additional configurable protection features, which can be applied individually for each channel. Besides state-of-the-art functions such as short circuit and overload protection, SPOC+2 includes a configurable over-load-detection current. The protection can either be configured with limited restart or immediate latch off.

For all SPOC+2 products Infineon provides a common diagnosis concept via SPI. The products include enhanced diagnosis functions such as open load in the off-state and short circuit to battery.

System Benefits vs. Discrete solution

• PCB Area Savings: 4-6 channel device with smallest package size & highest integrated feature set
• Scalable Solution: same pinout as previous generation SPOC™+, family pin-out and footprint concept to support population variants
• Load Driving Capability: Up to 14A nominal load current with parallel channel configuration. Best in class power dissipation to support most severe usage conditions, ReverSave™,-50% compared to PRO+ & -12% vs. PRO+2
• Feature to Cost: I/O savings due to SPI, optimized feature set for PWMoverSPI, best in class kILIS, less external components required due to integrated kILIS range switch and simple GND network, functional safety features, cranking, external drive, channel parallelization, configurable slew rate, configurable overload threshold and programmable restart control, logic supply is 3.3V compatible.

SPOC+2 products will be available from October 2018 onwards. The new power ICs range in cost (per AVNET) from approximately US $2.19 to US $3.40 depending on configuration and current capacity.