Silicon Labs Introduces Industry's First Six-Channel 5 KV Digital Isolators

New Si86xx Isolators Offer Superior EMI and Noise Performance and Highest Data Rate for Industrial, Medical and Green Energy

Based on Silicon Labs’ patented digital isolation technology, the new Si86xx family includes the industry’s first six-channel isolators rated to 5 kV, bidirectional isolators suitable for isolating I2C buses in a wide range of applications, and 3.75 kV options that provide higher levels of protection than currently available from 2.5 kV isolators. These higher isolation ratings translate into a longer service lifetime in harsh application conditions. The Si86xx family’s unmatched isolation channel count also helps simplify timing and isolation challenges in high-speed systems with wide digital buses by enabling developers to minimize the number of separate isolators, thereby reducing BOM costs and board space.

The Si86xx family offers significant electromagnetic emissions and immunity performance advantages, providing error-free data in noisy environments and up to 20 dB lower electromagnetic emissions than competing solutions. By offering the highest electric field immunity, the Si86xx digital isolators are well suited for use in noisy environments common in motor control, industrial automation and power supply applications as well as green energy applications such as smart meters where tamper protection is a growing concern.

The Si86xx isolators deliver the industry’s fastest data rate (150 Mbps) across the widest temperature range (-40 to 125ºC), as well as ultra-low power operation of less than 1.6 mA per channel at 1 Mbps for energy-efficient system design. The robust architecture of the Si86xx family ensures that signal integrity is maintained even while operating at high data rates and at high temperatures in harsh environments.

“The new Si86xx family brings the superior EMI performance, high data rates and reliability of Silicon Labs’ digital isolator technology to demanding applications requiring isolation ratings up to 5 kV and system cost reduction based on higher channel count density,” said Mark Thompson, vice president of Embedded Mixed-Signal products at Silicon Labs. “The Si86xx isolators enable developers to upgrade their optocoupler-based designs with a more reliable, highly integrated and higher-performance digital isolation solution.”