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Atmel Corporation today announced today the availability of the ATA6602 and ATA6603 multichip modules, extending Atmel's current IC family for LIN applications.

These new devices are designed for automotive actuator applications typically found in comfort electronics (e.g., window lifter, mirror or seat adjuster) as well as in powertrain applications. Due to their very small size, the ATA6602 and ATA6603 are also ideal for sensor node applications such as control panels, air quality, rain/sun sensors and many more.

Using a multichip-module approach, these two ICs combine a microcontroller (8-bit AVR®) and a LIN system basis chip (LIN SBC) in a single package (SiP, system-in-package) without internal connections. As a result, the ATA6602/ATA6603 ICs offer a very high integration level including microcontroller, voltage regulator, LIN transceiver and watchdog in one package covering the complete basic functionality of a LIN node.

The ATA6602 integrates the automotive-qualified ATmega88 AVR Flash MCU with 8 KB of Flash memory, whereas the ATA6603 incorporates the automotive-qualified ATmega168 with a Flash memory of 16 KB.

The LIN SBCs within the new ATA6602 and ATA6603 modules incorporate the LIN transceiver, an advanced voltage regulator, and a watchdog timer. They are manufactured using Atmel's own high-voltage BCDMOS process for operation in harsh environments. Thanks to its silent mode, the LIN SBC provides very low power consumption (40 microamps with activated voltage regulator). In addition, the LIN SBC provides high immunity against ESD and EMC, various protection functions, and a unique, broad input/output voltage range (-40 to 60V) for the LIN bus pin which is ideal for use in truck applications.

Since the ATA6602 and ATA6603 incorporate AVR microcontrollers with all pins bonded out, Atmel's standard AVR tools can be used during the development phase. This includes, for example, the AVR Studio® which is the new professional integrated development environment (IDE) for writing and debugging AVR applications. AVR Studio includes an assembler, as well as a simulator, and supports the integration of the freeware GCC compiler. For on-chip debugging, the AVR JTAGICE mkII can be used. It is a powerful development and debug tool supporting the debugWIRE Interface, which enables the designers to debug the ATA6602 and ATA6603 on-chip, using only a single wire for the debug interface. A LIN protocol handler is also available. In addition, a LIN software library for GCC and IAR C compiler are available for free.

Pricing and Availability
Samples of the new ATA6602/ATA6603 in QFN48 (7 x 7 mm) packages are available now. Pricing starts at US$1.87 (ATA6602) for 10k pieces and US$1.99 (ATA6603) for 10k pieces.