A CAN Transceiver for a Smart Output ASIC of Automotive Electronic Control Units: Design, Implementation, and Measurement

Abstract

In this thesis, the design, implementation, and measurement of a CAN transceiver are presented as a part of an architecture of Multi-domain Electronic Control Unit (MECU) and Smart Output ASIC for better mileage, wire length reduction and flexible system configuration. The proposed Smart Output ASIC is a dedicated terminal system for actuation feature. The main component includes MCU core, four types of actuator drivers, CAN/LIN transceiver, temperature sensor, and BGR/LDO regulator. The Smart Output ASIC communicates with a central ECU by using CAN or LIN protocols. Therefore, the first step for the Smart Output ASIC is to implement the CAN transceiver meeting ISO 11898-2/-5. In this work, two types of CAN transceiver were implemented; one is a stand-alone version CAN transceiver (Type I), and another is an MCU integrated version (Type II). Both support high-speed CAN which has the maximum data rate of 1Mbps. They are thermally protected, and robust against high voltage hazard. An 8-bit MCU is used for Type II. Type II is the first prototype of Smart Output ASIC, and it would be extended to the complete Smart Output ASIC by embedding the actuator drivers. The designed CAN transceivers were fabricated by using automotive 0.18𝑢𝑚, 52V BCDMOS technology. The chip size of the Type I is 1,275𝑢𝑚 (W) × 1,125𝑢𝑚 (H) except I/O pads. Also, Type II was implemented with the size of 2,680𝑢𝑚 (W) × 3,280𝑢𝑚 (H) except I/O pads. The fabricated CAN transceivers were tested for verifying the interoperability with commercial products.