TCA9801 Bus Buffer/Repeater

Texas Instruments TCA9801 Bus Buffer/Repeater is a dual-channel bidirectional buffer intended for I²C bus and SMBus/PMBus systems. The device provides bi-directional level shifting between low voltages (down to 0.8V) and higher voltages (1.65V to 3.6V). The TCA9801 features an internal current source on the B-side of the device. This feature allows the removal of external pull-up resistors on the B-side. The current source also provides an improved rise time and ultra-low power consumption. The Texas Instruments TCA9801 can provide true buffering (rather than a pass-FET solution) without a static voltage offset or incremental offset. This feature means that the V_OL on both the A and B sides of the TCA9801 is very low. This feature helps to eliminate communication issues due to fixed V_IL thresholds. Another key component of the TCA9801 is there are no power sequencing requirements or power supply dependencies. The V_CCA can be greater than, less than, or equal to V_CCB. This additional feature gives the system designer flexibility with how the TCA9801 is used.