New Industry Products

High-Speed, Bi-Directional Dual Supply Autosensing Level Shifter IC from Diodes Inc. Aimed at Automotive Applications

April 17, 2021 by Hailey Stewart

This article highlights Diodes Incorporated expansion of its family of voltage-level shifters, with the release of the PI4ULS3V304AQ.

Diodes Incorporated has expanded its family of voltage-level shifters, with the release of the PI4ULS3V304AQ. This advanced level shifting technology, featuring high degrees of flexibility, is proving vital to modern automobile design. It addresses the challenge of lower voltage microprocessors and microcontrollers incorporated into automotive systems, which are required to drive external devices operating at different voltage levels to their own (such as sensors and EMI filters).

 

Image courtesy of Diodes Incorporated
Image courtesy of Diodes Incorporated

 

Enabling high-speed operation, this configurable 4-bit IC supports a guaranteed data rate of 140Mbps. It offers bi-directional voltage-level translation, allowing increasingly common push-pull type applications to be addressed.

Through the PI4ULS3V304AQ’s A and B ports, two different power supply rails can be tracked. The IC can offer 0.9V to 2.0V translation on the A port and translation from 1.65V to 3.6V on the B port. Propagation delay is kept to just 13ns while running at full 100pF capacitive drive. Being AEC-Q100 Grade 1 qualified, this device is highly suited to automotive implementation. Among the key applications in which it will be employed are those relating to infotainment, driver assistance and telematics.

An operational temperature range of -40°C to 125°C is covered and 2kV electro-static discharge (ESD) protection has been incorporated. The innovative output enable (EN) function means that either of the PI4ULS3V304AQ’s respective I/O ports (A or B) can be shut down when not needed, in order to lower the power draw. Automated bi-directional operation eliminates the need for inclusion of a direction control pin.

Diodes Incorporated’s PI4ULS3V304AQ is supplied in a 12-pin UQFN package. This automotive-compliant level translator has a unit price of $0.55 in 5000 piece quantities.

 

About Diodes Incorporated

Diodes Incorporated is a leading global manufacturer and supplier of high-quality application-specific standard products within the broad discrete, logic, analog and mixed-signal semiconductor markets. Diodes serve the consumer electronics, computing, communications, industrial, and automotive markets. Diodes’ products include diodes, rectifiers, transistors, MOSFETs, protection devices, function-specific arrays, single gate logic, amplifiers and comparators, Hall-effect and temperature sensors, power management devices, including LED drivers, AC-DC converters and controllers, DC-DC switching and linear voltage regulators, and voltage references along with special function devices, such as USB power switches, load switches, voltage supervisors, and motor controllers.