Toshiba Electronics Europe offers what is claimed to be the industry’s first high-speed communications photocouplers that can work with a supply voltage as low as 2.2V. The devices are ideal for a wide range of applications including PLCs, measurement/control equipment and any other equipment needing a high-speed digital interface.

The two devices have typical data transfer rates of 5Mbps (TLP2312) and 20Mbps (TLP2372) and are specially designed to function with low voltage rails, down to 2.2V. This enables them to work with the lower voltages employed by many peripheral circuits, including those found in 2.5V LVCMOS, as well as hosting voltages as high as 5.5V. This approach removes the requirement for a separate power supply rail to drive the photocouplers, thereby decreasing the component count and saving space.

With a low threshold input current of 1.6mA (max.), and low supply current of 0.5mA (max.) across their -40C to +125C operating temperature range, the new devices can be directly driven by microcontrollers, decreasing power consumption. Both devices provide an isolation voltage of 3.75kVrms for safety isolation.

The new photocouplers are housed in five-pin SO6 package with a maximum height of 2.3mm, giving a low profile for height-constrained applications and delivering greater freedom for component layout on PCBs.