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The significance of CAN bus split termination

The significance of CAN bus split termination

October 23, 2025

We often see the design circuit shown in the figure below in CAN communication: the CAN terminal resistor does not directly use 120 ohms. Instead, a grounded capacitor is added between two 62Ω resistors to "split" the terminal resistor into two parts, which is the split termination method.

Figure 1 CAN bus interface circuit

This connection method is actually quite sophisticated; it effectively reduces external interference on the differential signal. The CAN bus transmits differential signals, which are generally highly resistant to common-mode interference. However, for high-reliability design, the CAN bus must withstand a variety of harsh environments. High-amplitude common-mode spike interference on the bus can damage the ground-connected circuitry within the CAN transceiver, necessitating interference suppression. The simplest and most effective method for suppressing this interference is to use an RC low-pass filter. This involves splitting the 120Ω termination resistor into two 62Ω resistors connected in series, with a small capacitor connected to ground between the two resistors. This creates an RC low-pass filter at each of the two differential transmission ports, CANH/CANL, on the CAN bus.

 

The cutoff frequency of an RC low-pass filter is Fc = 1/(2πRC), so C = 1/(2πRFc). This means that the size of the capacitor is related to the signal transmission cutoff frequency. The choice of capacitor is typically determined by the baud rate. For a 500kHz baud rate, we choose a cutoff frequency of 500kHz. The capacitance calculation formula is:

C = 1/(2πRFc) = 1/(2π*500000*62) = 5.13nF. A capacitor of 4.7nF, which is close to the commonly used value, is sufficient.

The CAN bus uses split termination to more effectively filter out high-frequency common-mode noise, improving communication stability in complex industrial environments.

 

 

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