TCAN1042H: TCAN1042: replace ATA6560

Hello Steven,

Thank you for your question. I am aware of the ATA6560 device from Microchip. Currently TI does not have a pin-to-pin replacement. The only part that we can suggest that switches between Standby and Silent Modes is the TCAN1043 device, but that device is a 14-pin CAN solution. The TCAN1043 offers some extra current saving features like INH and WAKE, and so I'm not sure whether your customer will prefer the TCAN1043 solution or will want to stay with an 8-pin CAN transceiver.

Microchip has implemented the ATA6560 8-pin CAN solution in a way that is abnormal to the rest of the market. In the vast majority of CAN applications, Pin 5 of an 8-pin CAN solution has been used for a couple of applications:

1. A stabilizing DC output voltage. This helps legacy transceivers to improve EMC and differential noise performance. You will see Pin 5 labeled as either SPLIT or VOUT, usually. We use SPLIT on Pin 5 for our legacy products.
2. A level-shifting voltage supply for expanded microcontroller logic levels. This is VIO support, which Microchip implements on their ATA6561 device. TI also implements VIO support on TCAN10XX devices with the "V" suffix.

However, as you have pointed out, the ATA6560 device implements a second control logic input onto Pin 5. This is the NSIL pin, meant to be used to switch the device between Silent and Standby modes outside of Normal operation. As I said above, this is abnormal to the industrial and automotive CAN market spaces.

TI has chosen not to implement their 8-pin CAN transceiver family in this way. The reason is, most of the application spaces for Standby Mode and Silent mode tend to be exclusive to one another. Standby Mode is used primarily in battery-powered applications that need to save on current, and Silent Mode is normally used in applications that can afford the high speed receiver staying on. So we have seen little interest in a customer that wants to switch between Standby and Silent Modes on a single CAN node. Therefore we have developed on solution for Standby Mode (TCAN1042), and one solution for Silent Mode (TCAN1051). To these 8-pin transceivers we offer the "V" suffix for VIO support, as I have mentioned above.

If your customer is insistent on having an 8-pin CAN transceiver with this functionality, then that would be great feedback for our team. Please let us know what application space for which your customer is designing their product.
In the meantime, you may want to get their feedback on why they want the functionality, and if they would be interested in the TCAN1043 14-pin device.

Best Regards,
Max Megee
TI Transceiver Applications