TRENDS IN AUTOMOTIVE ASIC DESIGN
Norio Fujiki, Masayori Ishikawa · 1989
Many semiconductor devices are now being used in on-board control units as a result of advances made in vehicle control methods and because of increasingly complex instrumentation requirements. Because of the various demands made on the electronic control units, it is difficult to build an efficient microprocessor-based unit. To overcome this problem, ASICs are now being widely used in automotive applications. The paper describes current practices in ASIC design in the auto industry and discusses the characteristics and trends associated with ASIC development by examining recent development projects at Nissan as case studies. The product planning of an electronics instrument cluster is presented to illustrate the component count reduction made possible by ASIC technology. The design philosophy for digital input ICs is discussed in connection with the development of anti-noise circuits, which is a required performance feature of ICs for automotive applications. Finally, an overview is given of ASIC technology for automotive use.