8.1 Overview

The isolator in theFunctional Block Diagram is based on a capacitive isolation barrier technique. The I/O channel of the ISO7220x and ISO7221x family of devices consists of two internal data channels, a high-frequency channel (HF) with a bandwidth from 100 kbps up to 150 Mbps, and a low-frequency channel (LF) covering the range from 100 kbps down to DC. In principle, a single-ended input signal entering the HF-channel is split into a differential signal via the inverter gate at the input. The following capacitor-resistor networks differentiate the signal into transients, which then are converted into differential pulses by two comparators. The comparator outputs drive a NOR-gate flip-flop whose output feeds an output multiplexer. A decision logic (DCL) at the driving output of the flip-flop measures the durations between signal transients. If the duration between two consecutive transients exceeds a certain time limit, (as in the case of a low-frequency signal), the DCL forces the output-multiplexer to switch from the high-frequency to the low-frequency channel.

Because low-frequency input signals require the internal capacitors to assume prohibitively large values, these signals are pulse-width modulated (PWM) with the carrier frequency of an internal oscillator, thus creating a sufficiently high frequency signal, capable of passing the capacitive barrier. As the input is modulated, a low-pass filter (LPF) is needed to remove the high-frequency carrier from the actual data before passing it on to the output multiplexer.