News & Events
Xicor Broadens Low Power XDCP Product Family
-- New single supply 64-tap digitally controlled potentiometers offer variable resistance control for system design
MILPITAS, California, December 19, 2000 Xicor Inc, (NASDAQ: XICO) today announced the X9421 and X9429, both 64-tap single supply nonvolatile digital potentiometers to their family of industry leading general purpose, mixed signal building block ICs. The devices are designed to be used in systems where a variable resistance value must be maintained during the manufacturing process of the system. The X9421 and X9429 feature four 6-bit EEPROM registers per potentiometer for storage of tap settings and system parameters. This allows a system designer to automatically save resistance value during power down and to preset resistor values as required by specific system demands.
The X9421 communicates via a serial port supporting the fast SPI interface, while the X9429 communicates via a serial port that supports an industry standard 2-wire interface. Both devices operate on a 2.7 single supply voltage and each have four nonvolatile registers that can be individually programmed giving system designers a high degree of flexibility resulting in a highly reliable circuit with long term temperature and time stability.
These medium-resolution XDCPs are the ideal replacement for mechanical potentiometers and provide an excellent cost/performance solution for system design. Accurate adjustment or calibration is supplied with 6-bit resolution for applications such as fiber optic modules, RF amplifier biasing, LCD brightness control, power supply calibration, battery operated applications and vending machines.
"With the market trend toward low voltage, single supply systems, these devices give the designer a control capability that allows system settings to be automatically set, thus reducing manufacturing costs," said Tony Ochoa, marketing manager for Xicor's Mixed Signal Products. "These products further broaden our programmable mixed signal product line and offer system designers the capability to further integrate the integral functions of a system by using these devices."
Both the X9421 and X9429 have the ability to recover its last position after a power down cycle within a system. The devices are ideal for use in manufacturing applications that use preset analog system values. This allows settings to be made automatically and results in a circuit that has a highly reliable "tamper-proof" setting. The devices can also be used to allow a system to adapt itself to different operating conditions while running and then remember the wiper settings in the event of a loss of power.
The X9421 and X9429 offer nonvolatile retention of the wiper position and very low standby currents of 200nA typical and 5 micro amps max. The ability to recover its last wiper position after a power down cycle is valuable in many applications. Both devices have four internal nonvolatile registers; one reserved for wiper position restoration, the other three can be used for system functions or preset wiper positions. The 64-tap resolution offers 6 bits of resolution or accuracy of < 1.5%.
Availability and Price
The parts are sampling now and production quantities will be available in Q1, 2001. For pricing information contact Tony Ochoa at 408-546-3345
Safe Harbor Statement
Except for historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release are forward looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. These risks may include the impact of competing products and pricing, timely design acceptance by our customers, timely ability to ramp new products into volume production, industry wide shifts in supply and demand for semiconductor products, and other risks detailed from time to time in Xicor's SEC filings.
About Xicor
Xicor, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures and sells nonvolatile in-the-system programmable products which retain information even when the system is turned off or power is inadvertently lost. Xicor's mixed signal product line includes digitally controlled potentiometers (XDCPs), programmable analog products, system management and power management ICs, and secure and standard memory ICs. Xicor product, corporate and financial information is readily accessible on the worldwide web at http://www.xicor.com. "Xicor" is a registered trademark and "XDCP" is a trademark belonging to Xicor Inc. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.
