company blog about Supply ON Logic Evaluation Board:I/O Expanders,Level Translators

Supply ON Logic Evaluation Board:I/O Expanders,Level Translators

Shenzhen Mingjiada Electronic Co., Ltd. as a professional electronic components supplier, long-term stock a large number of spot inventory, mainly engaged in: IC IC, 5G chip, new energy IC, Internet of Things chip, Bluetooth chip, automotive chips, artificial intelligence IC, Ethernet IC, memory chips, sensors, IGBT modules, and a series of products, the source of supply, the price is good and cheap, fast delivery, and wholeheartedly provide high-quality electronic components supply services to the vast number of end customers and distributors and traders. We are dedicated to providing high quality electronic components supply service to our end customers and distributors.

I/O Expansion Evaluation Board: Pin Extension

ON Semiconductor MAX7315AUE Evaluation Board Solution

ON Semiconductor's MAX7315AUE evaluation board offers a specialised solution for scenarios with constrained pin resources. The MAX7315AUE is an 8-channel I/O expander that communicates with the host controller via an I²C bus. By utilising just two GPIO pins (SDA and SCL), it extends eight programmable input/output ports, significantly enhancing system connectivity.

A key feature of this evaluation board is its integrated LED brightness control functionality. Each I/O port can be independently configured as an LED driver, supporting 8-bit PWM dimming. This design is particularly suited for applications requiring multi-state indication, such as industrial control panels, instrumentation, and consumer electronics. The board provides a comprehensive register configuration interface, enabling engineers to test port response characteristics across different operating modes, including input detection sensitivity, output drive capability, and interrupt triggering mechanisms.

The MAX7315AUE evaluation board operates within a temperature range of -40°C to 125°C, significantly exceeding the typical range of consumer-grade chips. This ensures reliable performance in demanding industrial environments. Its TSSOP-16 package delivers sufficient pin count while maintaining a compact footprint, making it suitable for space-constrained applications. Each I/O port on the evaluation board incorporates protection circuitry and test points, facilitating signal integrity measurements and fault analysis for engineers.

Comparison and Advantage Analysis

Multiple I/O expansion chips exist in the market, and the ON Semiconductor MAX7315AUE evaluation board demonstrates distinct advantages when compared to similar products. Compared to NXP's PCF8574T, the MAX7315AUE offers a wider operating voltage range (starting from 2.0V versus the PCF8574T's requirement of 2.5V). This enables operation at lower system voltages, making it suitable for battery-powered, low-power devices. Additionally, the MAX7315AUE incorporates LED brightness control functionality absent in the PCF8574T, a feature that simplifies the design of control panels incorporating indicator functions.

Compared to Texas Instruments' PCA9534APW, although both are 8-bit I²C I/O expanders, the MAX7315AUE outperforms in maximum operating temperature (125°C versus 85°C), making it more suitable for high-temperature industrial environments. Furthermore, the MAX7315AUE evaluation board provides more intuitive interrupt status indication, immediately notifying the host controller when I/O port states change, thereby reducing polling overhead.

Typical Application Scenarios

I/O expansion evaluation boards play a vital role in industrial automation control. For instance, within PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) systems, the pin count of the main control chip is often insufficient to connect all sensors and actuators. Through I/O expansion evaluation boards, engineers can validate integration solutions for multiple digital inputs (such as proximity switches and photoelectric sensors) and multiple digital outputs (such as relays and solenoid valves), ensuring reliability and response speed under actual operating conditions.

In consumer electronics, such as smart home control hubs, I/O expansion evaluation boards facilitate testing the coordinated operation of multiple button inputs and LED status indicators. The MAX7315AUE's PWM dimming capability enables engineers to evaluate user experience across varying brightness curves, optimising energy efficiency. Physical interfaces on the evaluation board are compatible with standard Arduino or Raspberry Pi boards, streamlining the prototyping process.

Furthermore, within multi-node data acquisition systems, a single master controller may manage dozens of sensor nodes. The I/O expansion evaluation board verifies address configuration schemes and bus load conditions, ensuring stable communication in complex wiring environments. The board's buffer circuits and ESD protection components also provide reference designs to help engineers enhance the immunity of final products.

Level Shifter Evaluation Board: Voltage Bridge

Detailed Analysis of ON Semiconductor's FXWA9306 Evaluation Board

The ON Semiconductor FXWA9306 evaluation board is specifically designed for voltage conversion requirements in I²C bus systems. This dual-channel, bidirectional level shifter supports voltage conversion between 1.0V to 3.6V (VCCA) and 1.8V to 5.5V (VCCB), covering a wide range of applications from ultra-low-power processors to traditional 5V peripherals. The evaluation board features a meticulously designed layout to ensure the shortest signal paths, minimising conversion delay and signal distortion.

A key advantage of the FXWA9306 evaluation board is its bidirectional conversion capability without requiring a direction control pin. Data flow direction on the I²C bus is dynamically changing; traditional level shifter chips necessitate additional direction control signals, increasing system complexity. The FXWA9306 employs an intelligent detection mechanism to automatically determine data transmission direction, simplifying both hardware design and software driver development. The evaluation board demonstrates this functionality in practice, enabling engineers to verify reliable bidirectional communication by connecting I²C masters and slaves operating at different voltages.

The evaluation board further provides testing capabilities for multiple voltage combinations, including common conversion scenarios such as 1.0V ↔ 1.8V, 1.2V ↔ 2.5V, 1.8V ↔ 3.3V, 2.5V ↔ 5V, and 3.3V ↔ 5V. Each combination features corresponding jumper settings and test points, enabling engineers to swiftly switch configurations. The on-board high-precision voltage measurement circuit enables users to monitor signal quality during conversion, including critical parameters such as rise time, fall time, and overshoot.

NL3V8T24x Series High-Performance Evaluation Solution

For applications requiring high-speed signal transmission, ON Semiconductor offers the NL3V8T24x series evaluation board. This range of 8-bit dual-supply level shifters supports data transfer rates up to 380Mbps (during 1.8V to 3.3V conversion), making them ideal for mobile devices, high-speed communication interfaces, and high-performance embedded systems. The evaluation board demonstrates how to achieve low-latency, high-bandwidth signal transmission between different voltage domains.

The NL3V8T24x evaluation board supports a wide voltage range of 0.9V to 3.6V, covering typical operating voltages for modern low-power processors. Its balanced output drive capability (±24mA@3.0V) ensures signal integrity, maintaining stable signal quality even during long-distance transmission or under multiple load conditions. The board provides detailed timing measurement guidelines to assist engineers in verifying converter performance under extreme conditions.

A key innovation of this evaluation board series is non-priority VCC sequencing, meaning the power-up sequence of the two power domains does not affect device functionality or cause chip damage. This feature is particularly crucial in complex power management systems, preventing system failures caused by improper power sequencing. The evaluation board simulates multiple power-up/power-down scenarios, demonstrating the converter's robustness under various power conditions.