The ET1100 EtherCAT ASIC offers a cost-effective and compact solution for realizing EtherCAT slaves. It processes the EtherCAT protocol in the hardware and therefore ensures high-performance and real-time capability, independent of any downstream slave microcontrollers and associated software. Through its three process data interfaces – digital I/O, SPI and 8/16 bit µC – the EtherCAT ASIC enables realization of simple digital modules without microcontrollers and development of intelligent devices with own processor. The ASIC features distributed clocks that enable high-precision synchronization (

The ET1100 ASIC housing (BGA128) only measures 10 x 10 mm. The chip can support up to four EtherCAT ports. The 8 kB internal memory (DPRAM) for access to process and parameter data is optionally addressed via parallel or serial data bus. Alternatively, the ASIC can be used without controller. In this case up to 32 digital signals can be connected directly.