Why do most CAN transceivers have external termination? Wouldn't it be easier to design if it is already integrated into the IC chip?
The reason why most CAN transceivers have external termination is because under bus-line short circuit conditions, high power is dissipated in the termination resistor, so if the resitor is not rated accordingly, it will blow up. Because of this, you might need a resistor with 1/2 watt or 1 watt(maybe even bigger) power rating which will be too big to be integrated into the IC. The external termination will also allow the customer to choose the appropriate power rating for the termination resistor based on their supply .