Date: 2/05/06SP3243 +3.0V to +5.5V RS-232 Transceivers© Copyright 2006 Sipex Corporation
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truth table logic of the SP3243 driver and receiver
outputs can be found in Table 2.
The SP3243 includes an additional non-invert-
ing receiver with an output R2OUT. R2OUT is an
extra output that remains active and
monitors activity while the other receiver
outputs are forced into high impedance.
This allows Ring Indicator (RI) from a
peripheral to be monitored without forward
biasing the TTL/CMOS inputs of the other
devices connected to the receiver outputs.
Since receiver input is usually from a transmis-
sion line where long cable lengths and system
interference can degrade the signal, the inputs
have a typical hysteresis margin of 300mV. This
ensures that the receiver is virtually immune to
noisy transmission lines. Should an input be left
unconnected, an internal 5KΩ pulldown resistor
to ground will commit the output of the receiver
to a HIGH state.
Charge Pump
The charge pump is a Sipex–patented design
(U.S. 5,306,954) and uses a unique approach
compared to older less–efficient designs. The
charge pump still requires four external
capacitors, but uses a four–phase voltage
shifting technique to attain symmetrical 5.5V
power supplies. The internal power supply con-
sists of a regulated dual charge pump that pro-
vides output voltages 5.5V regardless of the
input voltage (VCC) over the +3.0V to +5.5V
range. This is important to maintain compliant
RS-232 levels regardless of power supply
fluctuations.
The charge pump operates in a discontinuous
mode using an internal oscillator. If the output
voltages are less than a magnitude of 5.5V, the
charge pump is enabled. If the output voltages
exceed a magnitude of 5.5V, the charge pump is
disabled. This oscillator controls the four phases
of the voltage shifting. A description of each
phase follows.
Phase 1
— VSS charge storage — During this phase of
the clock cycle, the positive side of capacitors
C1 and C2 are initially charged to VCC. Cl+ is
then switched to GND and the charge in C1– is
transferred to C2–. Since C2+ is connected to
VCC, the voltage potential across capacitor C2 is
now 2 times VCC.
Phase 2
— VSS transfer — Phase two of the clock
connects the negative terminal of C2 to the VSS
storage capacitor and the positive terminal of C2
to GND. This transfers a negative generated
voltage to C4. This generated voltage is
regulated to a minimum voltage of -5.5V.
Simultaneous with the transfer of the voltage to
C4, the positive side of capacitor C1 is switched
to VCC and the negative side is connected to
GND.
Phase 3
— VDD charge storage — The third phase of the
clock is identical to the first phase — the charge
transferred in C1 produces –VCC in the negative
terminal of C1, which is applied to the negative
side of capacitor C2. Since C2+ is at VCC, the
voltage potential across C2 is 2 times VCC.
Phase 4
— VDD transfer — The fourth phase of the clock
connects the negative terminal of C2 to GND,
and transfers this positive generated voltage
across C2 to C3, the VDD storage capacitor. This
voltage is regulated to +5.5V. At this voltage,
the internal oscillator is disabled. Simultaneous
with the transfer of the voltage to C3, the
positive side of capacitor C1 is switched to VCC
and the negative side is connected to GND,
allowing the charge pump cycle to begin again.
The charge pump cycle will continue as long as
the operational conditions for the internal
oscillator are present.
Since both V+ and V– are separately generated
from VCC, in a no–load condition V+ and V– will
be symmetrical. Older charge pump approaches
that generate V– from V+ will show a decrease in
the magnitude of V– compared to V+ due to the
inherent inefficiencies in the design. The clock
rate for the charge pump typically operates at
greater than 250kHz. The external capacitors
can be as low as 0.1μF with a 16V breakdown
voltage rating.