Infineon’s new generation MCU AURIX™ TC4x is about to be put into mass production

Latest update time：2024-02-28

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AURIX™ of Yingjia MCU

As the global automotive semiconductor market leader, Infineon continues to shape the innovation path for future mobility.

Expanding its leading AURIX™ microcontroller family, Infineon has launched a new generation of AURIX™ TC4x series of 28nm microcontrollers for e-mobility, ADAS, automotive E/E architecture and affordable artificial intelligence (AI) applications. (MCU).

The first AURIX™ TC4x samples are already in use in designs with major customers.

Starting from this month, Infineon experts will publish 1-2 AURIX™ TC4x technical articles every month, detailing its various functional modules to help everyone learn and understand AURIX™ TC4x quickly.

Infineon AURIX™ Development History

Since the TriCore™ core architecture was born in 1999, it has gone through four generations of single-core microcontrollers. AURIX™ is a multi-core architecture microcontroller based on the TriCore™ core.

The first generation AURIX™ TC2x launched in 2014 integrated up to three TriCore™ cores.

The TC2x series of microcontrollers integrates a security management unit SMU to safely manage each module inside the microcontroller. In addition to completing the power supply, the power supply PMIC chip TLF35584 can also interact with the microcontroller. With SafeTlib™ software, it can implement self-test and monitor whether the microcontroller is running. Normally, when an abnormality occurs, the safety mechanism can be triggered to put the system into a safe state.

The second generation AURIX™ TC3x launched in 2018 integrates up to six TriCore™ cores, taking microcontroller performance to a new level.

The AURIX™ TC3x series of microcontrollers have excellent real-time performance. All models can reach the highest level of functional safety, ASIL-D. They integrate information security hardware encryption modules and have powerful interconnect interfaces, making them particularly suitable for many automotive applications.

The new generation of AURIX™ TC4x series launched in 2021 provides an upgrade path to the leading AURIX™ TC3x series.

It features next-generation TriCore™ 1.8 cores, along with a scalable suite of performance-enhancing accelerators. These include the new Parallel Processing Unit (PPU), a SIMD vector digital signal processor (DSP) that addresses the needs of a variety of AI topologies, including use cases as diverse as real-time control and radar post-processing. The scalable and highly compatible design of the product series allows users to adopt a common software architecture, thus greatly saving platform software costs.

AURIX™ TC4x application areas and

Feature overview

AURIX™ TC4x targets a wide range of automotive applications, including the strong demand for functional integration in E/E architectures based on domain control and zone control, and supports the development of electric transportation and autonomous driving through safety systems. Infineon's AURIX™ TC4x provides enhanced connectivity, including advanced functional safety and information security, further consolidating Infineon's leading position in the field of high-reliability and high-security automotive electronics.

In addition, the new SOTA (Software Over-the-Air Upgrade) function helps meet OEMs’ needs for fast and secure vehicle-to-cloud connections, enabling on-site updates as well as diagnosis and analysis during vehicle use. The new AURIX™ TC4x series MCUs support high-speed communication interfaces such as 5 Gbit Ethernet and PCI Express®, as well as new communication interfaces such as CAN-XL and 10BASE T1S Ethernet. Increased network throughput and connectivity provide customers with the performance and flexibility needed to implement new E/E architectures.

Complete AURIX™ TC4x ecosystem

Considering the increasing complexity of automobiles and the implementation of artificial intelligence technology, the AURIX™ TC4x ecosystem has received significant attention to ensure fast time to market and ease of use. Infineon is collaborating with Synopsys to accelerate software development for the AURIX™ TC4x family. Synopsys Virtualizer™ Development Kit (VDK) for TC4x enables software development earlier in the design cycle. The Synopsys DesignWare® ARC® MetaWare toolkit for AURIX™ TC4x provides the best compilers, debuggers and libraries, and emulators needed to develop software for the PPU.

Other partners will also provide corresponding products and support MATLAB automatic code generation to achieve rapid prototyping. Customers already using existing AURIX™ MCUs will benefit from shorter development times and faster time to market thanks to cross-generation scalable compatible designs. Significant hardware and software compatibility enables customers to extensively reuse existing TC3x algorithms and ecosystem.

The main features of the AURIX™ TC4x series

Features at a glance

TriCore™ and AURIX™ acceleration suites provide high

Performance, Computational Power , and Economical Artificial Intelligence

Up to 6 TriCore™ v1.8 running simultaneously at up to 500 MHz
AURIX™ Accelerator Suite:

Parallel Processing Unit (PPU) - Enables artificial intelligence up to ASIL-D
Data Routing Engine (DRE) - for efficient communication and data processing
CDSP – digital signal processing of analog sampled signals
Signal Processing Unit (SPU) - Radar Signal Processing Accelerator
Information Security Module (CSRM/CSS) - Hardware Encryption Accelerator

Memory upgrade

Up to 25 MB on-chip NVM storage
Supports zero-downtime SOTA with optimized A/B swap partitioning and external memory interfaces

Advanced clock module and AD conversion add real-time control

ability

New eGTM timer and high-resolution PWM, dedicated low-latency interconnect (LLI) bus
Faster control loops for motor control and power conversion
AURIX™ TC3x compatible GTM
多种ADC 转换器，时分复用 ADC(TMADC) /快速比较器 (FC)/DSADC
CDSP/DSEX 加速器

更强的功能安全和信息安全性能

包括 CSRM 和 CSS 在内的安全集群可提供更强的安全性能
符合 ISO 21434 标准
安全 DMA
符合 ASIL-D 标准

为所有E/E架构微控制器提供丰富的 网络

通讯接口

可扩展的高速通信接口：

高达 5 Gbps 以太网
PCIe
10BASE T1S 以太网
CAN-XL

数据路由引擎 (DRE) - 通信加速器

广泛的生态系统

英飞凌 MCAL 驱动程序
可重复使用现有 AURIX™ TC3x 算法和生态系统
利用 Synopsys - Virtualizer Development Kit for AURIX™ TC4x 虚拟原型支持快速原型开发
软件开发工具包 (SDK)
使用 Synopsys - MetaWare Toolkit for AURIX™ 简化 PPU 软件开发，其中包括 MATLAB 和 Simulink、DSP 和数学库、神经网络软件开发工具包以及 AUTOSAR 复杂设备驱动程序

供货情况

第一批 AURIX™ TC4x 样品已用于主要客户的设计中，各个型号将从2024年下半年逐步量产。

AURIX™ TC4x 内部资料抢先看

未来的汽车需要什么样的 MCU？

有更多潜力让汽车变得更加智能
由人工智能提供更高效的处理能力
适应新的电子电气架构
有更广泛更安全的的网络连接
适应更快速的技术迭代

AURIX™ TC4x 应运而生，为汽车工业提供最具吸引力的升级路径。

AURIX™ TC4x 助力开启汽车工业新纪元。

支持新的电子电气架构

具有更高的 ASIL-D 算力
安全网络连接大大增强
适应新的软件开发模式

电气化加速渗透

助力达成零排放目标
主机厂更专注于发展电动汽车
纯电汽车比例不断提升

英飞凌一如既往地提供高可靠性 AURIX™ 系列 MCU，以满足汽车对高稳定性、高安全性、长期供应保障等多方面的要求。

AURIX™ 系列 MCU 全面的产品目录和灵活的可扩展性为用户升级和降本提供双向选择的平台化开发思路
英飞凌长期发展与维护与可信赖合作伙伴的关系
安全一直是 AURIX™ 系列 MCU 的核心竞争力
非常高的稳定性大大降低失效风险
Tricore™ 内核及相关外设提供极强的实时控制性能
有承诺的长期供货保证以及可靠的供应链管理

AURIX™ TC4x 采用28nm半导体制程工艺，并引入 RRAM 非易失存储介质（NVM）。该制程工艺，英飞凌与台积电已经合作长达8年之久，将助力 TC4x 系列 MCU 实现高性价比，并为下一代 MCU 持续迭代升级铺平道路。

AURIX™ TC4x 根据汽车发展的趋势，重点拓展电动汽车、域控制器/区域控制器、智能（辅助）驾驶、雷达、动力底盘等应用场合。

得益于 AURIX™ 系列 MCU 跨代高兼容性设计，用户在 TC3x 的开发经验，将大大减少移植工作量，加速产品上市时间。

开发工具非常丰富，并且延续性好
软、硬件设计兼容性好
安全架构、理念一脉相承，并更加完善、强大
一如既往的高可靠性

AURIX™ TC4x 根据下一代控制器的需求，在多个方面性能得到很大提升

更高处理能力

更高的 Tricore™ 内核主频
并行处理单元
第三代高性能信号处理单元
模数转换信号后处理 DSP
数据路由引擎
高精度 PWM

更高安全性能

达到 ISO26262-2018 功能安全标准 ASIL-D 等级
符合 ISO21434 信息安全标准
更强的非对称加密能力
支持多路并发对称加解密

更完善的硬件虚拟化支持及隔离特性

支持内核、外设硬件虚拟化以及互相隔离
每个物理内核支持多达8个虚拟机
增强内存保护、DMA 保护

更丰富的网络连接

高达 5G 以太网接口
多达4个百兆/十兆低速以太网，并支持 10based-T1S 标准
PICe 3.0 interface
Support CAN XL
Supports MACsec hardware encryption

AURIX™ TC4x Architecture Block Diagram

Thanks to the hardware virtualization performance of AURIX™ TC4x, multiple different ECU functions can be run independently on a TC4x chip by deploying virtual machine software without interfering with each other. AURIX™ TC4x virtualization will be discussed in a subsequent article.

Infineon has many years of experience in information security development and has deployed hardware security modules (HSMs) since the first generation of AURIX™ chips. Now AURIX™ TC4x is developed in full compliance with the ISO21434 information security standard. At the same time, Infineon has obtained the ISO21434 product development process certification certificate issued by an authoritative third party.

The introduction of the parallel processing unit (PPU) in AURIX™ TC4x will help expand its application scenarios in the field of embedded AI. For example, PPU can play a key role in high-security intelligent prediction and intelligent control in multiple applications such as domain controllers/area controllers, ADAS, and new energy vehicles. For further introduction to PPU, please stay tuned for subsequent related articles.

Infineon has built a comprehensive development tool chain and software ecosystem for AURIX™ TC4x. Development tools include compilers, debuggers, integrated development environments (eg ADS Limited), virtual prototypes (VDK), model simulation hardware support packages, etc. The software ecosystem includes hardware underlying driver (MCAL), AUTOSAR protocol stack, functional safety software library (SafeTlib), information security software, PPU software library, CDSP software library, etc.

The new generation power management chip TLF4 series PMIC, which is best matched with AURIX™ TC4x, will also be launched simultaneously, helping to improve the safety performance of automotive controllers to another level. Stay tuned.

Preview of the next issue of the AURIX™ TC4x series of articles:

Getting Started Guide

to be continued...