powerZONE Products for the week of May 26, 2003
Analog Devices Says . . .
ADuM1300/01/1400/01/02: Multi-Channel Digital Isolators
for High-Voltage Industrial Applications
New iCoupler devices reduce per-channel costs and offer superior
alternative to optocoupler solutions
Analog Devices Inc., a global leader in high-performance semiconductors for signal processing applications, announced the addition of multi-channel digital isolators to its patented iCoupler family of digital isolators for high-voltage industrial applications. These new triple and quad-channel iCoupler devices eliminate multiple components, enabling breakthrough performance in a single package that provides a 60 percent reduction in circuit board space, a 40 percent reduction in per-channel cost, and up to a 98 percent reduction in power consumption over the prevalent existing solution: optocouplers. The new iCoupler isolators are ideally suited for industrial applications involving data communications and data converter interfaces as well as other multi-channel isolation applications.
iCoupler products feature a patented isolation technology based on planar magnetics rather than the LED/photodiode combination used in optocouplers. By eliminating the inefficient electro-optic conversions present in optocoupler devices, iCoupler components are able to operate at one-tenth to one-fiftieth the power without the need for external components to drive LEDs (light emitting diodes). In addition, an iCoupler isolation channel is able to operate at a much higher data rate, offers better timing accuracy, and better common-mode transient immunity than optocoupler devices. Furthermore, unlike optocoupler devices, multi-channel iCoupler products offer both forward and reverse communication channels within the same component.
"Industrial system designers are increasingly seeking to reduce the size and cost of their assemblies. As a result, the component-count, board space, power consumption, and thermal dissipation characteristics of optocouplers are becoming limiting factors," said Pat O'Doherty, product line director for Precision Converters, Analog Devices. "By introducing a multiple-channel approach and eliminating optocoupler size, power, and heat penalties, ADI has lowered the implementation cost of isolation and provided design efficiencies removing isolation as a limiting factor in industrial designs."
In response to market demand for an optocoupler alternative with improved
performance, integration, and cost characteristics, Analog Devices developed
a new method to isolate sensitive circuitry and users from high-voltage
environments. In 2001, the company introduced its single-channel iCoupler
solution for the high-end industrial market, the ADuM1100, which achieves
significant improvements over optocouplers in terms of power consumption
and performance. The ADuM1100 has been adopted by industrial companies for
high-speed or low-power applications primarily. Today Analog Devices addresses
the demands of the mid-range market with the introduction of a lower cost-per-channel
series of multi-channel iCoupler components, the ADuM130x and ADuM140x product
family.
analogZONE Says...
Analog Devices' iCoupler technology has already proven itself for many applications where optocoupling can be avoided. The technology uses monolithic air-core transformers to couple signals across from one side to the other with 2500 V rms isolation. With the ability to run the separate sides at supply voltages ranging from 2.7 V to 5.5 V level translation functions can also be achieved. Supply currents vary with the speed of the data being handled but ranges from numbers around 2 mA below 2 Mbit/s up to 75 mA at 100 Mbit/s.
The ADuM1300 and ADuM1301 are triple channel products with the ADuM1300 offering all three channels in the same encode/decode direction across the IC; the ADuM1301 reverses one of the channels for duplex use, with an easier layout. The ADuM1400/1401/1402 are quad-channel parts with different directional layouts for up to dual full-duplex use. All of the products are available in three grades, ARW, BRW and CRW. The ARW is rated for a maximum 1 Mbit/s data rate with a 100 ns propagation delay, 40 ns pulse width distortion and 40 ns channel-to-channel matching. The BRW improves those numbers to 10 Mbit/s, 50 ns, 3 ns, and 3 ns, while the CRW offers the highest performance with 100 Mbit/s, 30 ns, 2 ns and 2 ns.
Acceptance of these parts will be very high. The technology is already in use and although, in some cases, ADI is stealing some of its own business, it will also open up a lot more existing applications to iCoupler use. The prices are extremely attractive, especially to a market that is not usually that price sensitive.
The two series are sampling now with full production slated for September 2003. All the parts are in wide-body SOIC-16. The lowest grade triple-channel ADuM1300/1301 are priced at $2.22, the middle grade at $2.97 and the highest grade at $3.99, all for 1000-piece lots. The lowest grade quad-channel ADuM1400/01/02 is priced at $2.96, the middle grade at $3.96 and the highest grade at $4.48, all for 1000-piece lots.