Main Automotive Chips A Car Need

If the mobile phone chip is the "brain" of the mobile phone, then the car chip is equivalent to the brain of the car. Among them, automotive chips can be mainly divided into three categories: "functional chips", "power semiconductors" and "sensors".

Three types of automotive chips

Functional chip (MCU) is also called "micro control unit". If various system functions such as electronic control system, infotainment system, powertrain system, and vehicle motion system in the car want to run normally, they need to use this type of chip. Only functional chips can be realized, and the most popular "automatic driving system" is also inseparable from functional chips.

Automotive power semiconductors are mainly used in automotive power control systems, lighting systems, fuel injection, chassis safety and other systems. Traditional fuel vehicles generally use them in the fields of starting, power generation, and safety; new energy vehicles require a large number of power semiconductors to achieve The frequent voltage conversion requirements of vehicles, in addition, the blessing of power semiconductors is also indispensable in many parts of electric vehicles.

The automotive sensor is the input device of the automotive computer system. Its function is to convert the information of various working conditions in the running of the car, such as the speed of the vehicle, the temperature of various media, the operating conditions of the engine, etc., into electrical signals and send them to the computer. best working condition. Such as oxygen sensor, tire pressure sensor, water temperature sensor, electronic accelerator pedal position sensor and so on.

To sum up, automotive chips are very important for a car. Among the three types of functional chips, power semiconductors and sensors, sensors have the smallest market share. Without sensors, cars can't even step on the accelerator. , Now, I believe everyone understands why cars cannot be built without chips.

From the perspective of technical requirements, automotive-grade chips really discourage most chip companies. Consumer electronics chip technology iterates very quickly, and automotive-grade chips are almost all technologies more than ten years ago. Although the technology is "outdated", the threshold has not been lowered. On the contrary, automotive-grade chips have high requirements for performance indicators, service life, reliability, safety, and quality consistency, which are difficult for consumer electronics chips to match.

Compared with consumer chips and general industrial chips, the working environment of automotive chips is even harsher: the temperature range can be as wide as -40°C~155°C, high vibration, dusty, electromagnetic interference, etc. Due to personal safety issues, automotive chips have higher requirements for reliability and safety. The general design life is 15 years or 200,000 kilometers. "Car-grade" chips need to go through a rigorous certification process, including the reliability standard AEC-Q100, the quality management standard ISO/TS 16949, and the functional safety standard ISO26262.