Fixed-Direction Voltage Level Translators Cut Power Consumption and Pin Count
A novel family of advanced fixed-direction voltage level translators developed by Nexperia targets the most common push-pull data interfaces (including UART, SPI, and JTAG protocols) as well as general-purpose input/output (GPIO).
The NXU series of 4-, 2-, and 1-bit dual-supply buffers offer a smaller, higher-performance, and lower-cost level-translation solution that simplifies communication between a host processor and peripheral I/O devices when compared to existing designs. Their many applications range from consumer and industrial to automotive and enterprise.
The level translators address several problems found in comparable direction-controlled varieties, which typically require an additional GPIO pin for direction control. Such a requirement increases device size while also consuming some of the host processor’s scarce I/O resources. Conventional auto-direction devices don’t require a GPIO pin, but they usually lack the current drive required by many applications and sometimes exhibit non-deterministic I/O behaviors that can be a time sink to debug.
Devices in Nexperia’s NXU family combine the parametric performance capabilities of direction-controlled translation devices (i.e., high data rate, high drive strength, and glitch-free power sequencing) with the lower pin-out and size advantages of auto-direction devices. They also have a wider supply voltage range (0.9 to 5.5 V), consume less power, and support higher data rates (up to 250 Mb/s) than other voltage translation solutions.
To learn more about Nexperia’s voltage translation solutions, click here.
