MCU WITH INTEGRATED VOLTAGE ISOLATOR TO PROVIDE A GALVANIC ISOLATION BETWEEN INPUT AND OUTPUT

• US 20090027243A1
• Filed: 06/30/2008
• Published: 01/29/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Skyworks Solutions Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Silicon Laboratories Incorporated
• Inventors: ALFANO, DONALD E., BRESEMANN, DAVID P., LEUNG, KA Y.
• Granted Patent: US 7,737,871 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 341/100
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2223/6611 Wire connections
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/05554 being square
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/45099 Material
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/48095 Kinked
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/48137 the bodies being arranged next to each other, e.g. on a common substrate
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/48247 connecting the wire to a bond pad of the item
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/48257 connecting the wire to a die pad of the item
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/49171 Fan-out arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2224/49175 Parallel arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/48 Arrangements for conducting electric current to or from the solid state body in operation, e.g. leads, terminal arrangements ; Selection of materials therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 23/66 High-frequency adaptations
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 24/06 of a plurality of bonding areas
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 24/48 of an individual wire connector
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 24/49 of a plurality of wire connectors
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00 Indexing scheme for arrangements or methods for connecting or disconnecting semiconductor or solid-state bodies as covered by H01L24/00
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/00014 the subject-matter covered by the group, the symbol of which is combined with the symbol of this group, being disclosed without further technical details
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01006 Carbon [C]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01014 Silicon [Si]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01015 Phosphorus [P]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01023 Vanadium [V]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01033 : Arsenic [As]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/01082 : Lead [Pb]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/10253 : Silicon [Si]
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/14 : Integrated circuits
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/19041 : being a capacitor
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/19042 : being an inductor
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/19043 : being a resistor
• CPC Class Codes: H01L 2924/30105 : Capacitance

Abstract

An integrated circuit comprises a first microcontroller unit located on a first die. The first microcontroller unit includes a first processing core for providing a parallel stream of data. A second microcontroller unit is located on a second die and includes a second processing core for receiving the parallel stream of data. Voltage isolation circuitry transmits data from the parallel data stream between the first microcontroller and the second microcontroller in a serial data stream and provides galvanic isolation between the first microcontroller unit and the second microcontroller unit.

Claims

1. An integrated circuit, comprising:

a first microcontroller unit located on a first die including a first processing core for providing a parallel stream of data;

a second microcontroller unit located on a second die including a second processing core for receiving the parallel stream of data;

the first die galvanically isolated from the second die; and

voltage isolation circuitry located on each of the first and second dies for transmitting data from the parallel data stream between the first microcontroller unit and the second microcontroller unit in a serial data stream and maintaining the galvanic isolation between the first microcontroller unit and the second microcontroller unit.

2. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the voltage isolation circuitry comprises capacitive isolation circuitry.

3. The integrated circuit of claim 1, further including:

first transceiver circuitry located on the first die for converting between the parallel data stream and the serial data stream; and

second transceiver circuitry located on the second die for converting between the serial data stream and the parallel data stream.

4. The integrated circuit of claim 3, wherein the first and second transceiver circuitry each further comprises:

an encoder/decoder circuit for converting between a non-encoded parallel data stream and an encoded parallel data stream; and

a serializer/deserializer circuit for converting between the encoded serial data and the encoded parallel data stream.

5. The integrated circuit of claim 4, wherein the encoder/decoder circuit performs Manchester encoding and decoding.

6. The integrated circuit of claim 4, further including at least one special function register for storing the parallel data sample, wherein the at least one special function register generates an interrupt to the second microcontroller unit indicating the presence of the parallel data sample stored therein.

7. The integrated circuit of claim 4, further including a multiplier clock for multiplying a system clock controlling the encoder/decoder, analog to digital converter and digital to analog converter by a predetermined multiplier to create an increased clock signal and operating the serializer/deserializer circuit and the capacitive isolation circuitry by the increased clock signal.

8. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the first microcontroller unit converts between an analog signal and the parallel stream of data and the second microcontroller unit converts between the parallel stream of data and the analog signal.

9. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the first microcontroller unit converts between data in a first protocol and data in the parallel data stream and the second microcontroller converts between data in the parallel data stream and the data in a second protocol.

10. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the voltage isolation circuitry comprises inductive isolation circuitry.

11. An integrated circuit, comprising:

a first microcontroller unit located on a first die including a first processing core for providing a parallel stream of data;

a second microcontroller unit located on a second die including a second processing core for receiving the parallel stream of data;

the first die galvanically isolated from the second die;

capacitive isolation circuitry connected with the first microcontroller unit and the a second microcontroller unit for providing a high voltage isolation link between the first and the second microcontroller units, the capacitive isolation circuitry distributing a first portion of a high voltage isolation signal across a first group of capacitors associated with the first microcontroller unit and distributing a second portion of the high voltage isolation signal across a second group of capacitors associated with the second microcontroller unit.

12. The integrated circuit of claim 11, further including:

first transceiver circuitry located on the first die for converting between the parallel data stream and the serial data stream; and

second transceiver circuitry located on the second die for converting between the serial data stream and the parallel data stream.

13. The integrated circuit of claim 12, wherein the first and second transceiver circuitry further comprises:

an encoder/decoder circuit for converting between a non-encoded parallel data stream and an encoded parallel data stream; and

a serializer/deserializer circuit for converting between the encoded serial data and the encoded parallel data stream.

14. The integrated circuit of claim 13, wherein the encoder/decoder circuit performs Manchester encoding and decoding.

15. The integrated circuit of claim 13, further including at least one special function register for storing the parallel data to be transmitted when data is to be encoded and transmitted across the isolation link and storing received data when data is received across the isolation link and decoded, wherein the at least one special function register generates an interrupt to the processing core indicating the presence of the parallel data from the receive operation.

16. The integrated circuit of claim 13, further including a multiplier clock for multiplying a system clock controlling the encoder/decoder, analog to digital converter and digital to analog converter by a predetermined multiplier to create an increased clock signal and operating the serializer/deserializer circuit and the capacitive isolation circuitry by the increased clock signal.

17. The integrated circuit of claim 11, wherein the first microcontroller unit converts between an analog signal and the parallel stream of data and the second microcontroller unit converts between the parallel stream of data and the analog signal.

18. The integrated circuit of claim 11, wherein the first microcontroller unit converts between data in a first protocol and data in the parallel data stream and the second microcontroller converts between data in the parallel data stream and the data in a second protocol.

19. An integrated circuit, comprising:

a first microcontroller unit located on a first die including a first processing core for processing a parallel stream of data;

a second microcontroller unit located on a second die including a second processing core for processing a parallel stream of data;

the first die galvanically isolated from the first die;

first transceiver circuitry located on the first die for converting between the parallel data stream and a serial data stream;

second transceiver circuitry located on the second die for converting between the parallel data stream and a serial data stream; and

capacitive isolation circuitry for bidirectionally transmitting serial data between the first and second transceiver circuitry to provide a galvanic isolation link therebetween, such that data from the parallel data streams for the first microcontroller unit and the second microcontroller unit can be transmitted therebetween.

20. The integrated circuit of claim 19, wherein the first and second transceiver circuitry further comprises:

an encoder/decoder circuit for converting between a non-encoded parallel data stream and an encoded parallel data stream; and

a serializer/deserializer circuit for converting between the encoded serial data and the encoded parallel data stream.

21. The integrated circuit of claim 20, further including at least one special function register for storing the parallel data, wherein the at least one special function register generates an interrupt to the processing core indicating the presence of the parallel data when serial data is received and decoded and deserialized.

22. The integrated circuit of claim 20, further including a multiplier clock for multiplying a system clock controlling the encoder/decoder by a predetermined multiplier to create an increased clock signal and operating the serializer/deserializer circuit and the capacitive isolation circuitry by the increased clock signal.

23. The integrated circuit of claim 19, wherein the first microcontroller unit converts between an analog signal and the parallel stream of data and the second microcontroller unit converts between the parallel stream of data and the analog signal.

24. The integrated circuit of claim 19, wherein the first microcontroller unit converts between data in a first protocol and data in the parallel data stream and the second microcontroller converts between data in the data in the parallel data stream and the data in a second protocol.

25. An integrated circuit, comprising:

a microcontroller unit located on a first die in a semiconductor package including a first processing core for providing a parallel stream of data;

a second die disposed in the semiconductor package;

the first die galvanically isolated from the second die; and

voltage isolation circuitry located on each of the first and second dies for transmitting parallel data between the microcontroller unit on the first die and the second die across a galvanic isolation link as a serial data stream.

26. The integrated circuit of claim 25, wherein the voltage isolation circuitry comprises capacitive isolation circuitry.

27. The integrated circuit of claim 25, further including:

first transceiver circuitry located on the first die for converting between the parallel data stream associated with the operation of the microcontroller and the serial data stream transmitted or received across the isolation link; and

second transceiver circuitry located on the second die for converting between the serial data stream transmitted or received across the isolation link and a parallel data stream.

28. The integrated circuit of claim 27, wherein the first and second transceiver circuitry each further comprises:

an encoder/decoder circuit for converting between a non-encoded parallel data stream and an encoded parallel data stream; and

a serializer/deserializer circuit for converting between the encoded serial data and the encoded parallel data stream.

29. The integrated circuit of claim 28, wherein the encoder/decoder circuit performs Manchester encoding and decoding.

30. The integrated circuit of claim 28, further including at least one special function register associated with the operation of the microcontroller unit for storing the parallel data after receipt, deserializing and decoding of the serial data across the isolation barrier, wherein the at least one special function register generates an interrupt to the microcontroller unit indicating the presence of the parallel data stored therein.

31. The integrated circuit of claim 28, further including a multiplier clock for multiplying a system clock disposed on the first die controlling the encoder/decoder associated with the first transceiver circuitry, and an analog to digital converter and digital to analog converter by a predetermined multiplier to create an increased clock signal and operating the serializer/deserializer circuit and the capacitive isolation circuitry on the first die by the increased clock signal.

32. The integrated circuit of claim 25, wherein the voltage isolation circuitry comprises inductive isolation circuitry.