News & Events
Intersil Leads Industry with World's Smallest Complete RS-232 Serial Port

— New Micro Lead FrameICL3243 transceiver leapfrogs competition with tiny size and superior performance while offering 15 kV ESD protection

IRVINE, CA, August 8, 2001 – Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ: ISIL), a leading provider of silicon technology for wireless access and communications analog markets, today announced the world’s smallest Micro Lead Frame (MLF) packaged RS-232 serial data transceiver IC. The ICL3243ECR 3Tx/5Rx transceiver is specifically designed to provide compact, low-power, high-speed, serial data ports for the next wave of PDAs, palmtops, laptops, barcode readers and other battery-powered devices where space and power consumption are major issues.

"Newer portable devices require serial data transceiver ICs with smaller packaging, leaner power usage and solid ESD protection while offering reliable high-speed data transfer in the 3-volt supply range," said Rick Furtney, vice president and general manager of Intersil’s Analog Business Unit. "Our new MLF ICL3243E transceiver is the world’s smallest complete RS-232 serial port. The ICL3243E is the first in a new series of micro RS-232 transceivers to provide designers with a truly compact, low-power, high-performance serial port solution."

Technical Features
The new MLF package provides many needed benefits where space and power dissipation are important. At a mere 6 X 6 X 0.9 mm, the MLF package is less than half the size of the SSOP packages it replaces. Further, the MLF package provides improved thermal characteristics with a central grounded land on the underside. This grounded land offers low thermal resistance and provides efficient heat transfer to the substrate board. Small lands on the underside perimeter provide circuit contact so there are no leads to become bent during handling or assembly. Special manufacturing equipment is not needed.

Operating at a minimum guaranteed data rate of 250 kbps, the MLF ICL3243E transceiver is a three driver and five receiver (3Tx/5Rx) device which converts TTL/CMOS signal levels to and from serial EIA/TIA-232. Only four small external 0.1uF capacitors are needed to complete the implementation.

The MLF ICL3243E meets all of the EIA/TIA-232 and V.28/V.24 specifications, even at 3 V. This transceiver is fully compatible with 3 V, mixed 3 V and 5 V, and 5 V-only supplies. Powered down current is a miniscule 1 microamp (0.000001 A), and the ICL3243ECR features both manual and automatic power down controls. With automatic power down enabled, this transceiver automatically powers down whenever it senses the removal of the RS-232 cable. ESD protection for all RS-232 I/O pins is rated to +/-15 kV (IEC1000).

The latest addition to Intersil’s comprehensive family of serial data transceivers, the ICL3243 is the first in a new series of micro lead frame transceivers. Intersil offers a wide variety of ESD protected and non-ESD protected serial data transceivers to accommodate a large spectrum of applications in both commercial and industrial temperature environments. The transceivers deliver high data rates and low supply current drain to extend battery life in portable devices. To learn more about Intersil’s interface solutions, call 1-888-INTERSIL (1-888-468-3775) ext. 8009, or visit Intersil’s RS-232 website at www.intersil.com/rs232

Price and Availability
Samples of the MLF ICL3243E are available now, with production quantities available in Q4 2001. Pricing, based on 100 piece quantities, is as follows:

About Intersil
Intersil is a leading communications company and supplier of semiconductors, reference designs and software for wireless networking and analog markets. Intersil applies analog, mixed-signal and radio frequency (RF) expertise to products that enable wireless and voice access to broadband media; provide reliable power management in all PCs, file servers and portable information appliances; and perform analog and digital signal conversion for cellular and Internet infrastructure. For more information about Intersil, visit the company's Internet homepage at www.intersil.com

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