
ISL32173E, ISL32175E, ISL32177E, ISL32273E, ISL32275E, ISL32277E
13 FN7529.4
April 25, 2016
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Neglecting the RO IOH currents, the quiescent VL supply current
(IL) is typically less than 1µA for enable input voltages at ground
or VL, as shown in Figure 11 on page 14. Enable pin pull-up
resistors connect to VCC, so the current due to a low enable input
adds to ICC rather than to IL.
Hot Plug Function
When a piece of equipment powers up, there is a period of time
where the processor or ASIC driving the RS-485 control lines (EN,
EN, ENX) is unable to ensure that the RS-485 Rx outputs are kept
disabled. If the equipment is connected to the bus, a receiver
activating prematurely during power up may generate RO
transitions that could cause interrupts. To avoid this scenario,
this family incorporates a “Hot Plug” function. During power up,
circuitry monitoring VCC ensures that the Rx outputs remain
disabled for a period of time, regardless of the state of the
enables. This gives the processor/ASIC a chance to stabilize and
drive the RS-485 control lines to the proper states.
ESD Protection
All pins on these devices include class 3 (>8kV) Human Body
Model (HBM) ESD protection structures, but the RS-485 pins
(receiver inputs) incorporate advanced structures allowing them
to survive ESD events in excess of ±15kV HBM and ±16.5kV IEC
61000-4-2. The RS-485 pins are particularly vulnerable to ESD
damage because they typically connect to an exposed port on
the exterior of the finished product. Simply touching the port
pins, or connecting a cable, can cause an ESD event that might
destroy unprotected ICs. These new ESD structures protect the
device whether or not it is powered up and without degrading the
RS-485 common-mode range of -7V to +12V. This built-in ESD
protection eliminates the need for board level protection
structures (e.g., transient suppression diodes) and the
associated, undesirable capacitive load they present.
IEC 61000-4-2 Testing
The IEC 61000 test method applies to finished equipment, rather
than to an individual IC. Therefore, the pins most likely to suffer
an ESD event are those that are exposed to the outside world (the
RS-485 pins in this case) and the IC is tested in its typical
application configuration (power applied) rather than testing
each pin-to-pin combination. The lower current limiting resistor
coupled with the larger charge storage capacitor yields a test
that is much more severe than the HBM test. The extra ESD
protection built into this device’s RS-485 pins allows the design
of equipment meeting level 4 criteria without the need for
additional board level protection on the RS-485 port.
AIR-GAP DISCHARGE TEST METHOD
For this test method, a charged probe tip moves toward the IC pin
until the voltage arcs to it. The current waveform delivered to the
IC pin depends on approach speed, humidity, temperature, etc.,
so it is difficult to obtain repeatable results. The A and B RS-485
pins withstand ±16.5kV air-gap discharges.
CONTACT DISCHARGE TEST METHOD
During the contact discharge test, the probe contacts the tested
pin before the probe tip is energized, thereby eliminating the
variables associated with the air-gap discharge. These Quad
receivers survive ±8kV contact discharges on the RS-485 pins.
Data Rate, Cables and Terminations
The RS-485 and RS-422 are intended for network lengths up to
4000’, but the maximum system data rate decreases as the
transmission length increases. Networks operating at 80Mbps
are limited to lengths much less than 100’ (30m), while a
20Mbps version can operate at full data rates with lengths up to
200’ (60m).
Any of these ICs may be used at slower data rates over longer
cables, but there are some limitations for the 80Mbps versions.
The 80Mbps Rx is optimized for high speed operation, so its
output may glitch if the Rx input differential transition times are
too slow. Keeping the transition times below 500ns, which
equates to a Tx driving a 1000’ (305m) CAT 5 cable, yields
excellent performance over the full operating temperature range.
Twisted pair is the cable of choice for RS-485 and RS-422
networks. Twisted pair cables tend to pick up noise and other
electromagnetically induced voltages as common-mode signals,
which are effectively rejected by the differential receivers in
these ICs.
When using these receivers, proper termination is imperative to
minimize reflections. Short networks using slew rate limited
transmitters need not be terminated, but terminations are
recommended unless power dissipation is an overriding concern.
In point-to-point, or point-to-multipoint (single driver on a bus with
multiple receivers) networks, the main cable should be
terminated in its characteristic impedance (typically 120Ω) at the
end farthest from the driver. In multireceiver applications, stubs
connecting receivers to the main cable should be kept as short
as possible. Multipoint (multidriver) systems require that the
main cable be terminated in its characteristic impedance at both
ends. Stubs connecting a transmitter or receiver to the main
cable should be kept as short as possible.
Low Power Shutdown Mode
These BiCMOS receivers all use a fraction of the power required
by their bipolar counterparts, but they also include a Shutdown
(SHDN) feature that reduces the already low quiescent ICC to a
microamp trickle. These devices enter shutdown only when all
four receivers disable (see “Truth Tables” on page 5) for at least
600ns. The ISL32X73E types enter SHDN whenever EN is low and
EN is high. ISL32X75E types enter SHDN only if both EN12 and
EN34 are low. Note that the ISL32X75E enable times increase
significantly when enabling from the SHDN condition.
The ISL32X77E enter the low power SHDN mode if SHDNEN is
high and if all four Rx are disabled for at least 600ns. This is
accomplished by driving EN low and EN high, or by driving all four
ENX inputs low. Enable times increase if the IC was in SHDN, so if
enable time is more important than SHDN supply current, tying
the SHDNEN pin low defeats the low power SHDN feature. In this
mode, the supply current drops to 1mA to 2mA when all four Rx
are disabled, but the enable time of any Rx remains below
200ns.
Remember that all enable pins have pull-up resistors on them, so
each pin that is low during SHDN adds up to 15µA to the SHDN
supply current. The SHDN supply current entries in the “Electrical
Specifications” table on page 8 include the resistor currents of
the pins indicated to be in the low state.