Dual-supply bus transceivers for level translation in consumer and industrial applications

Toshiba Electronics Europe GmbH has released three new dual-supply bus transceivers that can be used for level translation in electronic industrial, consumer, and enterprise systems featuring widely employed communications interfaces like UART and SPI. The 74AVC series of bus transceivers support level-up and level-down voltage translation from either of its dual power supplies in bidirectional communication systems utilising signal voltages between 0.8V and 3.6V.

To support direct level-shifting of UART data, the 74AVC4T245FT includes four bidirectional level shift circuits, which enable independent control of the signal direction every 2-bits. The device also delivers this functionality and includes a built-in bus-hold function that permits it to retain its previous output even when the input is in a high-impedance state. The device offers 3-bit and 1-bit communications control, making it appropriate for use with SPI interfaces.

The output stage of these transceivers can be placed in a high impedance state by connecting one of the power supplies or the OE terminal input to GND, while the signal direction is determined using the DIR pin.

These devices have been developed to simplify power management without restrictions on the on/off sequencing of power supply terminals VCCA and VCCB, particularly in legacy system designs. Also, low static current consumption (ICCA, ICCB = 8μA (max.)) helps to save power.

The transceivers, which are housed in a TSSOP16B package, can reliably function in temperatures ranging from -40C to 125C.