Automotive high-side driver handles 100A

Author: EIS Release Date: Feb 16, 2023

It seems to be the week for high and low-side driver announcements, with STMicroelectronics now following on from Toshiba and Rohm.

 

ST VN9004AJ automotive hig side driver

ST’s offering are, like Rohm’s, for automotive use.

 

They are single, double and quad high-side gate drivers in a common 6 x 4.9 x 1.7mm gull-wing thermal pad package, “with pin assignments that simplify scaling circuit designs to add more driver channels”, according to ST. “Meeting the automotive industry’s LV124 test schedule for deep cold cranking permits use with heavy loads such as engine starters and ensures reliable operation even in extreme winter conditions.”

 

 

Single channel: VN9004AJ, VN9006AJ, VN9008AJ, VN9012AJ, VN9016AJ

Dual-channel: VND9008AJ, VND9012AJ, VND9016AJ, VND9025AJ

Quad-channel VNQ9025AJ and VNQ9080AJ

Inputs are compatible with signals from 3 and 5V CMOS.

 

 

 

Taking the single-channel VN9004AJ (diagram) as an example, it is designed to work across 4 to 28V but will withstand supply transients to 36V due to the in-house VIPower M0-9 process, said ST.

 

Typical on-state resistance for its single channel is 4.2mΩ, allowing it to handle up to a 108A limit. Standby current is 500nA, allowing it to remain permanently connected to the vehicle battery.

 

Protections include: under-voltage shut-down, over-voltage clamp, load current limiting, over-load blocking by on-die thermal gradient sensing, output inductive negative transient clamping and mechanisms to cope with  ground loss and Vcc loss.

 

There is also a configurable latch-off on over-temperature or power limitation, with dedicated fault reset pin, as well as a scheme using external components to implement reverse battery connection protection.

 

“Flexible reset management lets the designer configure responses to faults,” said ST. “The drivers provide reverse-battery protection through self-turn-on capability, which limits the power dissipation on the PCB to a survivable level.”

 

To notify the host controller, feedback is multiplexed onto a pin. This includes: a current proportional to load current, then indication for: over-load, short-to-ground, thermal shut-down, off-state open-load (needs external pull-up) and output short to Vcc.

 

There is a lot going on with these ICs – refer to the data sheets for details.