DATASHEET
X9251
Single Supply/Low Power/256-Tap/SPI Bus, Quad Digitally-Controlled (XDCP™)
Potentiometer
The X9251 integrates four digitally controlled potentiometers
(XDCP) on a monolithic CMOS integrated circuit.
The digitally controlled potentiometers are implemented with
a combination of resistor elements and CMOS switches. The
position of the wipers are controlled by the user through the
SPI bus interface. Each potentiometer has associated with it a
volatile Wiper Counter Register (WCR) and four nonvolatile
Data Registers that can be directly written to and read by the
user. The content of the WCR controls the position of the wiper.
At power-up, the device recalls the content of the default Data
Registers of each DCP (DR00, DR10, DR20, and DR30) to the
corresponding WCR.
The XDCP can be used as a three terminal potentiometer or as
a two terminal variable resistor in a wide variety of
applications including control, parameter adjustments, and
signal processing.
FN8166
Rev 6.00
December 3, 2014
Features
• Four potentiometers in one package
• 256 resistor taps–0.4% resolution
• SPI serial interface for write, read, and transfer operations of
the potentiometer
• Wiper resistance: 100Ω typical at V
CC
= 5V
• 4 Nonvolatile data registers for each potentiometer
• Nonvolatile storage of multiple wiper positions
• Standby current <5µA max
• V
CC
: 2.7V to 5.5V operation
• 50kΩ version of total resistance
• 100 year data retention
• Single supply version of X9250
• Endurance: 100,000 data changes per bit per register
• 24 Ld SOIC, 24 Ld TSSOP
• Low power CMOS
• Pb-free (RoHS compliant)
V
CC
R
H0
R
H1
R
H2
R
H3
HOLD
A1
A0
SO
SI
SCK
CS
SPI
Interface
WCR0
DR00
DR01
DR02
DR03
DCP0
POWER UP,
INTERFACE
CONTROL
AND
STATUS
WCR1
DR10
DR11
DR12
DR13
DCP1
WCR2
DR20
DR21
DR22
DR23
DCP2
WCR3
DR30
DR31
DR32
DR33
DCP3
V
SS
WP
R
W0
R
L0
R
W1
R
L1
R
W2
R
L2
R
W3
R
L3
FIGURE 1. FUNCTIONAL DIAGRAM
FN8166 Rev 6.00
December 3, 2014
Page 1 of 21
X9251
Circuit Level Applications
• Vary the gain of a voltage amplifier
• Provide programmable DC reference voltages for comparators
and detectors
• Control the volume in audio circuits
• Trim out the offset voltage error in a voltage amplifier circuit
• Set the output voltage of a voltage regulator
• Trim the resistance in Wheatstone bridge circuits
• Control the gain, characteristic frequency and Q-factor in filter
circuits
• Set the scale factor and zero point in sensor signal
conditioning circuits
• Vary the frequency and duty cycle of timer ICs
• Vary the DC biasing of a pin diode attenuator in RF circuits
• Provide a control variable (I, V, or R) in feedback circuits
System Level Applications
• Adjust the contrast in LCD displays
• Control the power level of LED transmitters in communication
systems
• Set and regulate the DC biasing point in an RF power amplifier
in wireless systems
• Control the gain in audio and home entertainment systems
• Provide the variable DC bias for tuners in RF wireless systems
• Set the operating points in temperature control systems
• Control the operating point for sensors in industrial systems
• Trim offset and gain errors in artificial intelligent systems
FN8166 Rev 6.00
December 3, 2014
Page 2 of 21
X9251
Ordering Information
PART NUMBER (Notes
2, 3)
X9251US24Z (Note
1)
X9251US24IZ (Note
1)
X9251UV24Z
X9251UV24IZ
PART
MARKING
X9251US Z
X9251US ZI
X9251UV Z
X9251UV ZI
2.7 to 5.5
V
CC
LIMITS
(V)
5 ±10%
POTENTIOMETER
ORGANIZATION
(kΩ)
50
TEMP RANGE
(°C)
0 to +70
-40 to +85
0 to +70
-40 to +85
-40 to +85
0 to +70
0 to +70
-40 to +85
PACKAGE
(Pb-Free)
24 Ld SOIC (300 mil)
24 Ld SOIC (300 mil)
24 Ld TSSOP (4.4mm)
24 Ld TSSOP (4.4mm)
24 Ld SOIC (300 mil)
24 Ld SOIC (300 mil)
24 Ld TSSOP (4.4mm)
24 Ld TSSOP (4.4mm)
PKG.
DWG. #
M24.3
M24.3
M24.173
M24.173
M24.3
M24.3
M24.173
M24.173
X9251US24IZ-2.7 (Note
1)
X9251US ZG
X9251US24Z-2.7 (Note
1)
X9251US ZG
X9251UV24Z-2.7
NOTES:
1. Add "T1" suffix for tape and reel.
X9251UV ZF
X9251UV24IZ-2.7 (Note
1)
X9251UV ZG
2. These Intersil Pb-free plastic packaged products employ special Pb-free material sets, molding compounds/die attach materials, and 100% matte
tin plate plus anneal (e3 termination finish, which is RoHS compliant and compatible with both SnPb and Pb-free soldering operations). Intersil
Pb-free products are MSL classified at Pb-free peak reflow temperatures that meet or exceed the Pb-free requirements of IPC/JEDEC J STD-020.
3. For Moisture Sensitivity Level (MSL), please see product information page for
X9251.
For more information on MSL, please see tech brief
TB363
Pin Configuration
X9251
(24 LD SOIC/TSSOP)
TOP VIEW
SO
A0
R
W3
R
H3
R
L3
NC
V
CC
R
L0
R
H0
R
W0
CS
WP
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
X9251
24
23
22
21
20
19
18
17
16
15
14
13
HOLD
SCK
R
L2
R
H2
R
W2
NC
V
SS
R
W1
R
H1
R
L1
A1
SI
Pin Descriptions
PIN
(SOIC)
1
2
3
4
5
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
20
21
22
23
24
6, 19
SYMBOL
SO
A0
R
W3
R
H3
R
L3
V
CC
R
L0
R
H0
R
W0
CS
WP
SI
A1
R
L1
R
H1
R
W1
V
SS
R
W2
R
H2
R
L2
SCK
HOLD
NC
FUNCTION
Serial Data Output for SPI bus
Device Address for SPI bus (see
Note 4)
Wiper Terminal of DCP3
High Terminal of DCP3
Low Terminal of DCP3
System Supply Voltage
Low Terminal of DCP0
High Terminal of DCP0
Wiper Terminal of DCP0
SPI bus. Chip Select active low input
Hardware Write Protect - active low
Serial Data Input for SPI bus
Device Address for SPI bus (see
Note 4)
Low Terminal of DCP1
High Terminal of DCP1
Wiper Terminal of DCP1
System Ground
Wiper Terminal of DCP2
High Terminal of DCP2
Low Terminal of DCP2
Serial Clock for SPI bus
Device select. Pauses the SPI serial bus.
No Connect
NOTE:
4. A0 and A1 device address pins must be tied to a logic level.
FN8166 Rev 6.00
December 3, 2014
Page 3 of 21
X9251
Functional Pin Descriptions
Bus Interface Pins
SERIAL OUTPUT (SO)
SO is a serial data output pin. During a read cycle, data is shifted
out on this pin. Data is clocked out by the falling edge of the
serial clock.
Potentiometer Pins
R
H
, R
L
The R
H
and R
L
pins are equivalent to the terminal connections on
a mechanical potentiometer. Since there are 4 potentiometers,
there are 4 sets of R
H
and R
L
such that R
H0
and R
L0
are the
terminals of DCP0 and so on.
SERIAL INPUT (SI)
SI is the serial data input pin. All opcodes, byte addresses and
data to be written to the device registers are input on this pin.
Data is latched by the rising edge of the serial clock.
R
W
The wiper pins are equivalent to the wiper terminal of a
mechanical potentiometer. Since there are 4 potentiometers,
there are 4 sets of R
W
such that R
W0
is the terminals of DCP0
and so on.
SERIAL CLOCK (SCK)
The SCK input is used to clock data into and out of the X9251.
HOLD (HOLD)
HOLD is used in conjunction with the CS pin to select the device.
Once the part is selected and a serial sequence is underway,
HOLD may be used to pause the serial communication with the
controller without resetting the serial sequence. To pause, HOLD
must be brought LOW while SCK is LOW. To resume
communication, HOLD is brought HIGH, again while SCK is LOW.
If the pause feature is not used, HOLD should be held HIGH at all
times.
Supply Pins
SYSTEM SUPPLY VOLTAGE (V
CC
) AND SUPPLY
GROUND (V
SS
)
The V
CC
pin is the system supply voltage. The V
SS
pin is the
system ground.
Other Pins
NO CONNECT
No connect pins should be left floating. These pins are used for
Intersil manufacturing and testing purposes.
DEVICE ADDRESS (A1 AND A0)
The address inputs are used to set the two least significant bits of
the slave address. A match in the slave address serial data
stream must be made with the address input in order to initiate
communication with the X9251. Device pins A1 and A0 must be
tied to a logic level which specifies the internal address of the
device, see
Figures 3, 4, 5, 6
and
7.
HARDWARE WRITE PROTECT INPUT (WP)
The WP pin, when LOW, prevents nonvolatile writes to the Data
Registers.
Principles of Operation
The X9251 is an integrated circuit incorporating four DCPs and
their associated registers and counters, and a serial interface
providing direct communication between a host and the
potentiometers.
CHIP SELECT (CS)
When CS is HIGH, the X9251 is deselected and the SO pin is at
high impedance, and (unless an internal write cycle is underway)
the device is in the standby state. CS LOW enables the X9251,
placing it in the active power mode. It should be noted that after
a power-up, a HIGH to LOW transition on CS is required prior to
the start of any operation.
DCP Description
Each DCP is implemented with a combination of resistor
elements and CMOS switches. The physical ends of each DCP are
equivalent to the fixed terminals of a mechanical potentiometer
(R
H
and R
L
pins). The RW pin is an intermediate node, equivalent
to the wiper terminal of a mechanical potentiometer.
The position of the wiper terminal within the DCP is controlled by
an 8-bit volatile Wiper Counter Register (WCR).
FN8166 Rev 6.00
December 3, 2014
Page 4 of 21
X9251
One of Four Potentiometers
#: 0, 1, 2, or 3
SERIAL DATA PATH
FROM INTERFACE
CIRCUITRY
DR#0
8
DR#1
8
PARALLEL
BUS
INPUT
WIPER
COUNTER
REGISTER
(WCR#)
INC/DEC
LOGIC
IF WCR = 00[H] then R
W
is closest to R
L
IF WCR = FF[H] then R
W
is closest to R
H
UP/DN
MODIFIED SCK
UP/DN
CLK
R
L
SERIAL
BUS
INPUT
R
H
DR#2
DR#3
COUNTER
---
DECODE
DCP
CORE
R
W
FIGURE 2. DETAILED POTENTIOMETER BLOCK DIAGRAM
Power-Up and Down Recommendations
There are no restrictions on the power-up or power-down
conditions of V
CC
and the voltages applied to the potentiometer
pins provided that V
CC
is always more positive than or equal to
V
H
, V
L
, and V
W
(i.e., V
CC
V
H
, V
L
, V
W
). The V
CC
ramp rate
specification is always in effect.
power-down. Power-up guidelines are recommended to ensure
proper loadings of the DR#0 value into the WCR#.
Data Registers (DR)
Each of the four DCPs has four 8-bit nonvolatile Data Registers.
These can be read or written directly by the host. Data can also
be transferred between any of the four Data Registers and the
associated Wiper Counter Register. All operations changing data
in one of the Data Registers is a nonvolatile operation and takes
a maximum of 10ms.
If the application does not require storage of multiple settings for
the potentiometer, the Data Registers can be used as regular
memory locations for system parameters or user preference data.
Bits [7:0] are used to store one of the 256 wiper positions or data
(0 ~ 255).
Wiper Counter Register (WCR)
The X9251 contains four Wiper Counter Registers, one for each
potentiometer. The Wiper Counter Register can be envisioned as
a 8-bit parallel and serial load counter with its outputs decoded
to select one of 256 wiper positions along its resistor array. The
contents of the WCR can be altered in four ways: it may be
written directly by the host via the Write Wiper Counter Register
instruction (serial load); it may be written indirectly by
transferring the contents of one of four associated data registers
via the XFR Data Register instruction (parallel load); it can be
modified one step at a time by the Increment/Decrement
instruction (see
“Instruction Format” on page 10
for more
details). Finally, it is loaded with the contents of its Data Register
zero (DR#0) upon power-up (see
Figure 2).
The wiper counter register is a volatile register; that is, its
contents are lost when the X9251 is powered down. Although the
register is automatically loaded with the value in DR#0 upon
power-up, this may be different from the value present at
Status Register (SR)
This 1-bit Status Register is used to store the system status.
WIP: Write In Progress status bit, read only.
• WIP = 1, indicates that high-voltage write cycle is in progress.
• WIP = 0, indicates that no high-voltage write cycle is in
progress.
TABLE 1. WIPER COUNTER REGISTER, WCR (8-BIT), WCR[7:0]: USED TO STORE THE CURRENT WIPER POSITION (VOLATILE)
WCR7
(MSB)
TABLE 2. DATA REGISTER, DR (8-BIT), DR[7:0]: USED TO STORE WIPER POSITIONS OR DATA (NONVOLATILE)
BIT 7
(MSB)
BIT 6
BIT 5
BIT 4
BIT 3
BIT 2
BIT 1
BIT 0
(LSB)
WCR6
WCR5
WCR4
WCR3
WCR2
WCR1
WCR0
(LSB)
FN8166 Rev 6.00
December 3, 2014
Page 5 of 21