October 5, 2011 – BUSINESS WIRE — Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) introduced a packaging technology for digital isolators that achieves a minimum of 8mm creepage distance required by global industry standards to ensure safe operation in high-voltage medical and industrial applications.
Incorporating Analog Devices’ iCoupler digital isolation technology, the package achieves 8.3mm creepage. The new design is Canadian Standards Association certified. It suits advanced medical diagnostic, measurement and monitoring; and industrial and instrumentation systems that operate up to 220-250V AC.
Creepage is the shortest distance over an insulating surface — an IC package in this case — over which an arc may travel between two galvanically isolated conductors. A 220-250V working voltage requires a minimum of 8mm. The JEDEC-standard 16-lead SOIC has 7.6mm of creepage; ADI extended the package length by 2.5mm to enlarge the creepage path, while remaining compatible with JEDEC standard footprint. ADI developed the package to replace lower-performing optocouplers, delivering 4x the data rate and using 90% less power, according to the company.
ADI’s iCoupler technology is based on chip-scale transformers, offering power, stability, and data rate advantages over optocouplers’ LED or photodiode systems. The transformers are planar structures formed from CMOS and gold metal layers, fabricated directly on-chip using wafer-level processing. A high-breakdown thick polyimide layer under the gold insulates the top and bottom transformer coils. CMOS circuits connected to each coil provide the interface between each transformer and its external signals. iCoupler channels can be integrated with each other and other semiconductor functions.
| Coupler Digital Isolators Available in 16-Lead Certified SOIC Package | |
| ADuM220x | Dual-channel isolators |
| ADuM221x | Dual-channel isolators |
| ADuM225x | Isolators with non-latching bidirectional communication channels |
| ADuM240x | Quad-channel isolators |
| ADuM4160 | USB isolator |
| ADuM440x | Quad-channel isolators |
| ADuM6000 | Isolated dc-to-dc converter* |
| ADuM620x | Dual-channel 5-kV isolators with integrated dc-to-dc converter* |
| ADuM640x | Quad-channel isolators with integrated dc-to-dc converter* |
| ADM268xE | 5-kV rms signal and power isolated RS-485 transceivers* |
| *Certificate available in December. | |
Analog Devices provides data conversion and signal conditioning chips. Analog Devices’ common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "ADI" and is included in the S&P 500 Index. To watch a short video on the new iCoupler digital isolator packaging, visit http://www.analog.com/8mmpackaging.
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