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RHOPOINT COMPONENTS Hurst Green, Oxted, Surrey RH8 9AX UK Telephone: +44 (0) 870 608 1188 Fax: +44 (0) 870 241 2255 Internet: www.rhopointcomponents.com
IL715/6/7ISOLOOP®
Power Consumption
Isoloopdevices achieve their low power consumption from
the manner by which they transmit data across the isolation
barrier. By detecting the edge transitions of the input logic
signal and converting these to narrow current pulses a
magnetic field is created around the GMR Wheatstone
bridge. Depending on the direction of the magnetic field,
the bridge causes the output comparator to switch following
the input logic signal. Since the current pulses are narrow,
about 2.5ns wide, the power consumption is independent of
mark-to-space ratio and solely dependent on frequency. This
has obvious advantages over optocouplers whose power
consumption is heavily dependent on its on-state and
frequency.
The approximate power supply current per channel for
Isoloop®is: I(input)= 40 . f . 1 mA
fmax 4
where f= operating frequency
fmax= 50 MHz
Power Supply Decoupling
Both power supplies to these devices should be decoupled
with good quality 47 nF ceramic capacitors. For data rates
in excess of 10MBd, use of ground planes for both GND1
and GND2 is highly recommended. Capacitors should be
located as close as possible to
the device.
Signal Status on Start-up and Shut Down
To minimize power dissipation, the input signals to the
IL715, IL716 and IL717 are differentiated and then latched
on the output side of the isolation barrier to reconstruct the
signal. This could result in an ambiguous output state
depending on power up, shutdown and power loss
sequencing. Therefore, the designer should consider the
inclusion of an initialization signal in his start-up circuit.
Data Transmission Rates
The reliability of a transmission system is directly related to
the accuracy and quality of the transmitted digital
information. For a digital system, those parameters which
determine the limits of the data transmission are pulse width
distortion and propagation delay skew.
Propagation delay is the time taken for the signal to travel
through the device. This is usually different when sending a
low-to-high than when sending a high-to-low signal. This
difference, or error, is called pulse width distortion (PWD)
and is usually in ns. It may also be expressed as a
percentage:
This figure is almost 3x better than for any available
optocoupler with the same temperature range, and 2x better
than any optocoupler regardless of published temperature
range. The IsoLoop®range of isolators including the IL717
surpasses the 10% maximum PWD recommended by
PROFIBUS, and will run at almost 35 Mb before reaching
the 10% limit.
Propagation delay skew is the difference in time taken for
two or more channels to propagate their signals. This
becomes significant when clocking is involved since it is
undesirable for the clock pulse to arrive before the data has
settled. A short propagation delay skew is therefore critical,
especially in high data rate parallel systems, to establish and
maintain accuracy and repeatability. The IsoLoop®range of
isolators all have a maximum propagation delay skew of 6
ns, which is 5x better than any optocoupler. The maximum
channel to channel skew in the IL717, IL716, and IL715
isolators is only 3 ns which is 10x better than any
optocoupler.
Application Notes:
PWD% = Maximum Pulse Width Distortion (ns) x 100%
Signal Pulse Width (ns)
e.g. for the IL717 @ 12.5 Mb
PWD% = 3ns x 100% = 3.75%
80 ns