SP331

Programmable RS232/RS485 Transceiver
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Overview

Information Programmable RS-232/RS-485 Transceiver
Supported Protocols RS232, V.28, RS485, RS422, V.24
Supply Voltage (Nom) (V) 5
232 Tx / Rx 4 / 4
485 Tx / Rx 2 / 2
RS-232 Max Data Rate (Mbps) 0.12
RS-485/RS-422 Max Data Rate (Mbps) 10
HBM ESD (kV) 2
IEC 61000-4-2 Contact (±kV) -
120Ω Termination
VL Pin
232 Full Handshake
Slew Limit Pin
Fault Tolerance (V)
RS-485 Duplex Full
Max ICC (mA) 30
Temperature Range (°C) 0 to 70, -40 to 85
Package SOIC-28
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The SP331 is a programmable RS-232 and/or RS-485 transceiver IC. The SP331 contains four drivers and four receivers when selected in RS-232 mode; and two drivers and two receivers when selected in RS-485 mode. The SP331 also contains a dual mode which has two RS-232 drivers/receivers plus one differential RS-485 driver/receiver.

The RS-232 transceivers can typically operate at 230kbps while adhering to the RS-232 specifications. The RS-485 transceivers can operate up to 10Mbps while adhering to the RS-485 specifications. The SP331 includes a self-test loopback mode where the driver outputs are internally configured to the receiver inputs. This allows for easy diagnostic serial port testing without using an external loopback plug. The RS-232 and RS-485 drivers can be disabled (High-Z output) by controlling a set of four select pins.


  • +5V Only Operation
  • Software Programmable RS-232 or RS-485 Selection
  • Four RS-232 Transceivers iRS-232 Mode
  • Two RS-485 Full-Duplex Transceivers in RS-485 Mode
  • Two RS-232 Transceivers and One RS-485 Transceiver in Dual Mode
  • Self-Testing Loopback Mode
  • Full Driver Tri-State (Hi-Z) Control
  • Ideal for RS-232 to RS-485 conversion

Documentation & Design Tools

All Types Data Sheets Application Notes Schematics & Design Files Product Briefs & Brochures User Guides & Manuals
Type Title Version Date File Size
Data Sheets SP331 Programmable Dual RS-232/RS-485 Transceiver 1.0.1 March 2018 561.5 KB
Application Notes Advantages of Designing with Multi-Protocol Transceivers Application Note R00 September 2023 2.5 MB
Application Notes DAN-190, MaxLinear UARTs in RS-485 Applications R01 July 2023 2.4 MB
Application Notes RS-232 and RS-485 PCB Layout Application Note R00 December 2022 2.8 MB
Application Notes ANI-16, Design Guide for Multi-Protocol Serial Ports A November 2005 462.9 KB
User Guides & Manuals XR21B1420 Evaluation Board User’s Manual 1B January 2020 1.2 MB
Product Brochures Interface Brochure R02 November 2024 3.6 MB
Product FAQs SP331 FAQ 1.0.0 June 2006 190.7 KB
Schematics & Design Files XR21B1420/1421 Evaluation Board Design Files REV 10 June 2016 386.5 KB
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Quality & RoHS

Part Number RoHS | Exempt RoHS Halogen Free REACH TSCA MSL Rating / Peak Reflow Package
SP331CT-L N Y Y Y Y L3 / 260ᵒC WSOIC28
SP331CT-L/TR N Y Y Y Y L3 / 260ᵒC WSOIC28
SP331ET-L N Y Y Y Y L3 / 260ᵒC WSOIC28
SP331ET-L/TR N Y Y Y Y L3 / 260ᵒC WSOIC28

Click on the links above to download the Certificate of Non-Use of Hazardous Substances.

Additional Quality Documentation may be available, please Contact Support.

Parts & Purchasing

Part Number Pkg Code Min Temp Max Temp Status Suggested Replacement Buy Now Order Samples PDN
SP331CT WSOIC28 0 70 OBS
SP331CT-L WSOIC28 0 70 Active Order
SP331CT-L/TR WSOIC28 0 70 Active Order
SP331CT/TR WSOIC28 0 70 OBS
SP331ET WSOIC28 -40 85 OBS
SP331ET-L WSOIC28 -40 85 Active Order
SP331ET-L/TR WSOIC28 -40 85 Active Order
SP331ET/TR WSOIC28 -40 85 OBS
XR21B1420IL28-0A-EVB Board Active
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Part Status Legend
Active - the part is released for sale, standard product.
EOL (End of Life) - the part is no longer being manufactured, there may or may not be inventory still in stock.
CF (Contact Factory) - the part is still active but customers should check with the factory for availability. Longer lead-times may apply.
PRE (Pre-introduction) - the part has not been introduced or the part number is an early version available for sample only.
OBS (Obsolete) - the part is no longer being manufactured and may not be ordered.
NRND (Not Recommended for New Designs) - the part is not recommended for new designs.

Packaging

Pkg Code Details Quantities Dimensions
WSOIC28
  • JEDEC Reference: MS-013
  • MSL Pb-Free: L3 @ 260ºC
  • MSL SnPb Eutectic: n/a
  • ThetaJA: 58.6ºC/W
  • Bulk Pack Style: Tube
  • Quantity per Bulk Pack: 27
  • Quantity per Reel: 1500
  • Quantity per Tube: 27
  • Quantity per Tray: n/a
  • Reel Size (Dia. x Width x Pitch): 330 x 24 x 12
  • Tape & Reel Unit Orientation: Quadrant 1
  • Dimensions: mm
  • Length: 17.90
  • Width: 7.50
  • Thickness: 2.65
  • Lead Pitch: 1.27

Notifications

Distribution Date Description File
07/17/2023 In 2023, MaxLinear will be converting all shipping labels for the parts noted from an EXAR format to MaxLinear’s label. During this transition customers may receive either label. This change affects only shipping and packing labels. This change will not affect the part number, part marking, manufacturing process or manufacturing sites. Only work in progress material will be converted. Existing inventory from MaxLinear’s warehouse, channel sales, distributor, and such, will not be converted. Hence, customers may experience receiving mixed shipments with both Exar and MaxLinear labels for some period until existing inventory of old labels is eventually cleared out. Situation is product to product with no predictable way to determine when all old labels will be exhausted. No change to product form, fit, function and reliability. ADDENDUM A: Fixed MBB label logo for DX204001 to MaxLinear logo. ADDENDUM B: Replaced ‘All other affected products outer box label’ with clearer pictures. Corrected Date Issued (from original PCN) issue date +90 days to August 30, 2023.
06/01/2023 In 2023, MaxLinear will be converting all shipping labels for the parts noted from an EXAR format to MaxLinear’s label. During this transition customers may receive either label. This change affects only shipping and packing labels. This change will not affect the part number, part marking, manufacturing process or manufacturing sites. Only work in progress material will be converted. Existing inventory from MaxLinear’s warehouse, channel sales, distributor, and such, will not be converted. Hence, customers may experience receiving mixed shipments with both Exar and MaxLinear labels for some period until existing inventory of old labels is eventually cleared out. Situation is product to product with no predictable way to determine when all old labels will be exhausted. No change to product form, fit, function and reliability.
06/01/2023 In 2023, MaxLinear will be converting all shipping labels for the parts noted from an EXAR format to MaxLinear’s label. During this transition customers may receive either label. This change affects only shipping and packing labels. This change will not affect the part number, part marking, manufacturing process or manufacturing sites. Only work in progress material will be converted. Existing inventory from MaxLinear’s warehouse, channel sales, distributor, and such, will not be converted. Hence, customers may experience receiving mixed shipments with both Exar and MaxLinear labels for some period until existing inventory of old labels is eventually cleared out. Situation is product to product with no predictable way to determine when all old labels will be exhausted. No change to product form, fit, function and reliability. ADDENDUM: Fixed MBB label logo for DX204001 to MaxLinear logo.
02/11/2016 Foundry line qualification, Addition of qualified 6 inch wafer processing line in Silan
11/16/2015 Updated information subsequent to original published PCN 15-0625-02 on 09/29/2015. Addendum: Update to package marking.
09/29/2015 Greatek as alternate assembly site Addition of an alternate production site, Greatek, Taiwan for 16L, 24L and 28L SOICW
07/02/2013 Qualified copper wire bonding assembly in addition to currently qualified gold wire bonding assembly in Carsem. Material change.
07/30/2010 Process Change. Capacity enhancement.
02/22/2010 Process Change Process optimization and clarify conditions for the datasheets parameters.
02/28/2007 Product Obsolescence Letter and Discontinuation Notification. Discontinued.
06/26/2006 Amendment of PCN transferring certain Power Management and Interface Products from Hillview fabrication and facility to wafer foundary Episil instead of Silan. See attached Product List Power Management and Interface products as listed are being transfer to external wafer foundry, due to cessation of operations of the sipex Hillview Fabrication manufacturing site
02/02/2006 Announcing transfer of certain Power Management and Interface Products from Hillview fabrication and facility to wafer foundary Silan. See attached Product List Power Management and Interface products as listed are being transfer to external wafer foundry, due to cessation of operations of the sipex Hillview Fabrication manufacturing site

FAQs & Support

Search our list of FAQs for answers to common technical questions.
For material content, environmental, quality and reliability questions review the Quality tab or visit our Quality page.
For ordering information and general customer service visit our Contact Us page.

Submit a Technical Support Question As a New Question

For RS-232 it is 50 feet (15 meters), or the cable length equal to a capacitance of 2500 pF, at a maximum transmission rate of 19.2kbps. When we reduce the baud rate, it allows for longer cable length. For Example:

 

Baud Rate (bps)

Maximum RS-232 Cable Length (ft)

19200

50

9600

500

4800

1000

2400

3000
 
For RS-485 / RS-422 the data rate can exceed 10Mbps depending on the cable length. A cable length of 15 meters (50 feet) will do a maximum of 10Mbps. A cable length of 1200 meters (4000 feet) will do a maximum of 90kbps over 24 AWG gauge twisted pair cable (with 10 pF/ft). Refer to Annex A TIA/EIA-422-B. Also refer the RS-485 Cable Lengths vs. Data Signaling Rate Application Note (AN-292).
 
 

Yes, the SP331, SP332 and SP334 exceed ±2kV ESD HBM on all pins.  Some interface products have enhanced versions that exceed ±15kV, which applies to the bus data lines.  The parametric search contains ESD information and it is a selection field https://www.exar.com/products/interface/serial-transceivers/multiprotocol/dual-protocol .

The SP331 configured for RS485 mode operate as standard RS485 drivers and 1-Unit Load receivers. The drivers can therefore support up to 32 unit loads coexisting on a shared multidrop RS485 bus. If the other nodes on the bus are less than 1-UL a piece then more nodes can be supported. If a biasing supply or other loads are added to the bus then total number of nodes would be decreased.

The Modes are described on page 8 and Page 11 of the datasheet. Using decimal equivalent; modes 12, 13, 14, can be used for RS485 in either full or half duplex.
Referring to the function table on page 8, modes 12 and 13 are used for half duplex. T1 turns on and off for transmit and receive modes. These same bus lines can be used for the full duplex mode as the transmitter but the receiver is hard wired in a loop back configuration so R3 has to be used as the full-duplex receiver.
If preferred, T3 and R3 can be used as a separate full duplex channel but this requires two more bus lines.

ESD tests are “destructive tests.” The part is tested until it suffers damage. Therefore parts cannot be 100% tested in production, instead a sample of parts are characterized during the product qualification. The test procedure consists of “zapping” pins with a given voltage using the appropriate model and then running the part through electrical tests to check for functionality or performance degradation.

ESD is caused by static electricity. In order for an ESD event to occur there must be a buildup of static charge. Very high charge levels are actually quite rare. In a normal factory environment, taking basic ESD precautions (grounding-straps, anti-static smocks, ionizers, humidity control, etc.) static levels can be kept below a few tens of volts. In an uncontrolled environment, like an office, static levels rarely get above 2000 volts. Under some worstcase conditions (wearing synthetic fabrics, rubbing against synthetic upholstered furniture, extremely low humidity)
levels can go as high as 12 to 15 thousand volts. Actually to get to 15000 volts or higher you would need to be in an uncomfortably dry environment (humidity below 10%) otherwise static charge will naturally dissipate through corona discharge. It would definitely be considered a “bad hair day.” Humans can generally feel a static shock only above 3000 volts. A discharge greater than 4000 volts can cause an audible “pop.” But repeated lower level discharges can be imperceptible and still may have a cumulative damaging effect on sensitive ICs. All ICs, even those with robust protection, can be damaged if they are hit hard enough or often enough.

Most ICs in a typical system are at greatest risk of ESD damage in the factory when the PCB is assembled and the system is being built. After the system is put together they are soldered onto the PCB and shielded within a metal or plastic system enclosure. Interface ICs are designed to attach to an external connector that could be exposed to ESD when a cable is plugged in or when a person or object touches the connector. These interface pins are most likely to see ESD exposure and therefore benefit from additional protection.

Actually the letter “E” could have two different meanings, depending on where it is in the part number. Most of our interface devices are available in different temperature grades. Commercial temperature (0 to 70C) has a “C” after the numeric part number. Industrial-extended temperature (-40 to +85C) use the letter E. So for example SP485CN is commercial and SP485EN is industrial. The second letter indicates the package type, in this case N for narrow-SOIC. Another E in the suffix indicates that this device has enhanced ESD protection, typically of ±15000Volts on the interface pins. Devices that do not have the enhanced ESD still contain built-in ESD protection of at least ±2000Volts. For example the SP485ECN is ESD rated up to ±15kV, and the SP485CN is rated for ±2kV HBM.

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Videos

How to Design a Multiprotocol System using Only 1 Connector

Industrial networks support multiple serial interfaces such as RS-485 and RS-232.  Using a multiprotocol transceiver enables industrial equipment to support both protocols using only one connector. Enabling both smaller and lower cost equipment designs. This video describes how to design multiprotocol systems using only one connector.

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