Serial transceivers toughen up against ESD

The ISL8483E and ISL8485E enhanced transceivers provide the high electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection required for many industrial and commercial applications.

Intersil has added two new 15kV ESD-protected RS485/422 high-performance data transceivers to its Linearlink family.

The ISL8483E and ISL8485E enhanced transceivers provide the high electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection required for many industrial and commercial applications.

They are fully compliant with RS485 and RS422 specifications and can support up to 32 devices on the same bus.

ESD is a major enemy of interface ICs because their inputs and outputs are highly vulnerable to static discharge introduced at jacks and connectors.

Typical applications for these transceivers include factory automation systems, security networks, keyboard/video/mouse (KVM) switching, industrial/process control networks (eg Fieldbus) and environmental control systems for buildings.

Both these new 5Vt RS485/422 transceiver ICs are rated for a +/-15kV ESD level (human body model) and are guaranteed to meet the specifications over a +/-10% supply range tolerance (4.5 to 5.5V).

That's twice the voltage range offered by most competing ICs and allows for a less critical supply design.

These are half-duplex transceivers offering multiplexed receiver (Rx) inputs and driver (Tx) outputs to support Rx and Tx disable functions.

Balanced differential signalling ensures high noise immunity and long reach for reliable serial data transfer.

The common-mode input voltage range for each receiver is -7 to +12V.

These ICs have receiver and driver enables along with output current and thermal limiting to ensure adverse-event survival and increased reliability.

"The addition of these 15kV ESD-protected transceivers to our Linearlink RS485/422 family is a significant milestone in what has been a three fiscal quarter development effort", said Mamoon Rashid, Director of Marketing for Intersil's Analogue Solutions Products.

"Over that period, Intersil has introduced six core new products that offer higher performance than the pin-for-pin competing parts they replace.

Early success and market acceptance is leading us to further innovation and product development".

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