A
PPLICATION
N
OTES AND
D
EVELOPMENT
S
YSTEM
A V A I L A B L E
AN20 • AN42–48 • AN50–53 • AN73 • XK9241
Terminal Voltage
±
5V, 64 Taps
X9241
X9241
Quad E
2
POT
™
Nonvolatile Digital Potentiometer
FEATURES
DESCRIPTION
The X9241 integrates four nonvolatile E
2
POT digitally
controlled potentiometers on a monolithic CMOS micro-
circuit.
The X9241 contains four resistor arrays, each com-
posed of 63 resistive elements. Between each element
and at either end are tap points accessible to the wiper
elements. The position of the wiper element on the array
is controlled by the user through the two-wire serial bus
interface.
Each resistor array has associated with it a wiper counter
register and four 8-bit data registers that can be directly
written and read by the user. The contents of the wiper
counter register control the position of the wiper on the
resistor array.
The data register may be read or written by the user. The
contents of the data registers can be transferred to the
wiper counter register to position the wiper. The current
wiper position can be transferred to any one of its
associated data registers.
The arrays may be cascaded to form resistive elements
with 127, 190 or 253 taps.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Four E
2
POTs in One Package
Two-Wire Serial Interface
Register Oriented Format
—Directly Write Wiper Position
—Read Wiper Position
—Store as Many as Four Positions per Pot
Instruction Format
—Quick Transfer of Register Contents to
Resistor Array
—Cascade Resistor Arrays
Low Power CMOS
Direct Write Cell
—Endurance - 100,000 Data Changes per Register
—Register Data Retention - 100 years
16 Bytes of E
2
PROM memory
3 Resistor Array Values
—2K
Ω
to 50K
Ω
Mask Programmable
—Cascadable For Values of 500
Ω
to 200K
Ω
Resolution: 64 Taps each Pot
20-Lead Plastic DIP, 20-Lead TSSOP and
20-Lead SOIC Packages
FUNCTIONAL DIAGRAM
VH2
WIPER RESISTOR
COUNTER ARRAY
REGISTER
POT 2
(WCR)
R0 R1
WIPER
COUNTER
REGISTER
(WCR)
R2 R3
SCL
SDA
A0
A1
A2
A3
VH0
R0 R1
VL0
VW0
R2 R3
VL2
VW2
INTERFACE
AND
CONTROL
CIRCUITRY
8
DATA
R0 R1
VH1
WIPER
COUNTER RESISTOR
ARRAY
REGISTER
POT 1
(WCR)
R0 R1
VH3
WIPER
RESISTOR
COUNTER
ARRAY
REGISTER
POT 3
(WCR)
R2 R3
VL1
VW1
R2 R3
VL3
VW3
3864 ILL F07.1
© Xicor, Inc. 1994, 1995, 1996 Patents Pending
3864-2.7 7/1/96 T0/C3/D3 NS
1
Characteristics subject to change without notice
X9241
PIN DESCRIPTIONS
PIN NAMES
Symbol
SCL
SDA
A0–A3
V
H0
–V
H3,
V
L0
–V
L3
V
W0
–V
W3
Description
Serial Clock
Serial Data
Address
Potentiometers
(terminal equivalent)
Potentiometers
(wiper equivalent)
3864 PGM T01
Host Interface Pins
Serial Clock (SCL)
The SCL input is used to clock data into and out of the
X9241.
Serial Data (SDA)
SDA is a bidirectional pin used to transfer data into and
out of the device. It is an open drain output and may be
wire-ORed with any number of open drain or open
collector outputs. An open drain output requires the use
of a pull-up resistor. For selecting typical values, refer
to the guidelines for calculating typical values on the
bus pull-up resistors graph.
Address
The Address inputs are used to set the least significant
4 bits of the 8-bit slave address. A match in the slave
address serial data stream must be made with the
Address input in order to initiate communication with the
X9241.
PRINCIPLES OF OPERATION
The X9241 is a highly integrated microcircuit incorporat-
ing four resistor arrays, their associated registers and
counters and the serial interface logic providing direct
communication between the host and the E
2
POT poten-
tiometers.
Serial Interface
The X9241 supports a bidirectional bus oriented proto-
col. The protocol defines any device that sends data
onto the bus as a transmitter and the receiving device as
the receiver. The device controlling the transfer is a
master and the device being controlled is the slave. The
master will always initiate data transfers and provide the
clock for both transmit and receive operations. There-
fore, the X9241 will be considered a slave device in all
applications.
Clock and Data Conventions
Data states on the SDA line can change only during
SCL LOW periods (t
LOW
). SDA state changes during
SCL HIGH are reserved for indicating start and stop
conditions.
Start Condition
Potentiometer Pins
V
H
(V
H0
– V
H3
), V
L
(V
L0
– V
L3
)
The VH and VL inputs are equivalent to the terminal
connections on either end of a mechanical potentiom-
eter.
V
W
(V
W0
– V
W3
)
The wiper outputs are equivalent to the wiper output of
a mechanical potentiometer.
PIN CONFIGURATION
DIP/SOIC/TSSOP
VW0
VL0
VH0
A0
A2
VW1
VL1
VH1
SDA
VSS
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
X9241
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
12
11
VCC
VW3
VL3
VH3
A1
A3
SCL
VW2
VL2
VH2
3864 ILL F01A.2
All commands to the X9241 are preceded by the start
condition, which is a HIGH to LOW transition of SDA
while SCL is HIGH (t
HIGH
). The X9241 continuously
monitors the SDA and SCL lines for the start condition
and will not respond to any command until this condition
is met.
Stop Condition
All communications must be terminated by a stop con-
dition, which is a LOW to HIGH transition of SDA while
SCL is HIGH.
2
X9241
Acknowledge
Acknowledge is a software convention used to provide
a positive handshake between the master and slave
devices on the bus to indicate the successful receipt of
data. The transmitting device, either the master or the
slave, will release the SDA bus after transmitting eight
bits. The master generates a ninth clock cycle and
during this period the receiver pulls the SDA line LOW to
acknowledge that it successfully received the eight bits
of data. See Figure 7.
The X9241 will respond with an acknowledge after
recognition of a start condition and its slave address and
once again after successful receipt of the command
byte. If the command is followed by a data byte the
X9241 will respond with a final acknowledge.
Array Description
The X9241 is comprised of four resistor arrays. Each
array contains 63 discrete resistive segments that are
connected in series. The physical ends of each array are
equivalent to the fixed terminals of a mechanical poten-
tiometer (V
H
and V
L
inputs).
At both ends of each array and between each resistor
segment is a FET switch connected to the wiper (V
W
)
output. Within each individual array only one switch may
be turned on at a time. These switches are controlled by
the Wiper Counter Register (WCR). The six least signifi-
cant bits of the WCR are decoded to select, and enable,
one of sixty-four switches.
The WCR may be written directly, or it can be changed
by transferring the contents of one of four associated
data registers into the WCR. These data registers and
the WCR can be read and written by the host system.
Device Addressing
Following a start condition the master must output the
address of the slave it is accessing. The most significant
four bits of the slave address are the device type
identifier (refer to Figure 1 below). For the X9241 this is
fixed as 0101[B].
Figure 1. Slave Address
DEVICE TYPE
IDENTIFIER
0
1
0
1
A3
A2
A1
A0
PROCEED
PROCEED
3864 ILL F01
The next four bits of the slave address are the device
address. The physical device address is defined by the
state of the A0-A3 inputs. The X9241 compares the
serial data stream with the address input state; a suc-
cessful compare of all four address bits is required for
the X9241 to respond with an acknowledge.
Acknowledge Polling
The disabling of the inputs, during the internal non-
volatile write operation, can be used to take advantage
of the typical 5ms E
2
PROM write cycle time. Once the
stop condition is issued to indicate the end of the
nonvolatile write command the X9241 initiates the inter-
nal write cycle. ACK polling can be initiated immediately.
This involves issuing the start condition followed by the
device slave address. If the X9241 is still busy with the
write operation no ACK will be returned. If the X9241 has
completed the write operation an ACK will be returned
and the master can then proceed with the next
operation.
Flow 1. ACK Polling Sequence
NONVOLATILE WRITE
COMMAND COMPLETED
ENTER ACK POLLING
ISSUE
START
ISSUE SLAVE
ADDRESS
ISSUE STOP
ACK
RETURNED?
YES
NO
FURTHER
OPERATION?
YES
ISSUE
INSTRUCTION
NO
ISSUE STOP
DEVICE ADDRESS
3864 FHD F08
3
X9241
Instruction Structure
The next byte sent to the X9241 contains the instruction
and register pointer information. The four most signifi-
cant bits are the instruction. The next four bits point to
one of four pots and when applicable they point to one
of four associated registers. The format is shown below
in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Instruction Byte Format
POTENTIOMETER
SELECT
I3
I2
I1
I0
P1
P0
R1
R0
action will be delayed t
STPWV
. A transfer from WCR
current wiper position, to a data register is a write to
nonvolatile memory and takes a minimum of t
WR
to
complete. The transfer can occur between one of the
four potentiometers and one of its associated registers;
or it may occur globally, wherein the transfer occurs
between all four of the potentiometers and one of their
associated registers.
Four instructions require a three-byte sequence to
complete. These instructions transfer data between the
host and the X9241; either between the host and one of
the data registers or directly between the host and the
WCR. These instructions are: Read WCR, read the
current wiper position of the selected pot; Write WCR,
change current wiper position of the selected pot; Read
Data Register, read the contents of the selected non-
volatile register; Write Data Register, write a new value
to the selected data register. The sequence of opera-
tions is shown in Figure 4.
The Increment/Decrement command is different from
the other commands. Once the command is issued and
the X9241 has responded with an acknowledge, the
master can clock the selected wiper up and/or down in
one segment steps; thereby, providing a fine tuning
capability to the host. For each SCL clock pulse (t
HIGH
)
while SDA is HIGH, the selected wiper will move one
resistor segment towards the V
H
terminal. Similarly, for
each SCL clock pulse while SDA is LOW, the selected
wiper will move one resistor segment towards the V
L
terminal. A detailed illustration of the sequence and
timing for this operation are shown in Figures 5 and 6
respectively.
INSTRUCTIONS
REGISTER
SELECT
3864 ILL F09.1
The four high order bits define the instruction. The next
two bits (P1 and P0) select which one of the four
potentiometers is to be affected by the instruction. The
last two bits (R1 and R0) select one of the four registers
that is to be acted upon when a register oriented instruc-
tion is issued.
Four of the nine instructions end with the transmission of
the instruction byte. The basic sequence is illustrated in
Figure 3. These two-byte instructions exchange data
between the WCR and one of the data registers. A
transfer from a data register to a WCR is essentially a
write to a static RAM. The response of the wiper to this
Figure 3. Two-Byte Command Sequence
SCL
SDA
S
T
A
R
T
0
1
0
1
A3
A2
A1
A0
A
C
K
I3
I2
I1
I0
P1 P0
R1 R0
A
C
K
S
T
O
P
3864 ILL F10
4
X9241
Figure 4. Three-Byte Command Sequence
SCL
SDA
S
T
A
R
T
0
1
0
1
A3
A2
A1
A0
A
C
K
I3
I2
I1
I0
P1 P0
R1 R0
A
C
K
CM DW D5 D4 D3
D2
D1 D0
A
C
K
S
T
O
P
3864 ILL F11
Figure 5. Increment/Decrement Command Sequence
SCL
SDA
S
T
A
R
T
0
1
0
1
A3
A2
A1
A0
A
C
K
I3
I2
I1
I0
P1 P0
X
X
A
C
K
I
N
C
1
I
N
C
2
I
N
C
n
D
E
C
1
D
E
C
n
S
T
O
P
R1 R0
3864 FHD F12
Figure 6. Increment/Decrement Timing Limits
INC/DEC
CMD
ISSUED
SCL
tCLWV
SDA
VW
VOLTAGE OUT
3864 ILL F13
5
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