Product category: Analogue and Mixed Signal ICs
News Release from: Maxim Integrated Products | Subject: MAX6850
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 27 November 2002
No flicker with integrated VFD
controller
The MAX6850 is the world's first vacuum-fluorescent display controller with embedded fonts, multiplex timing control and filament timing for flicker-free displays.
The MAX6850 is the world's first vacuum-fluorescent display (VFD) controller with embedded fonts, multiplex timing control and filament timing for flicker-free displays The MAX6850 uses a 26MHz four-wire, SPI/QSPI-compatible bus to interface with a microprocessor
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 27 Aug 2002 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Speedy DAC claims dynamic superiority for comms
The MAX5195 is a 14bit 260Msample/s DAC claimed to provide the world's best dynamic performance in spurious-free dynamic range, intermodulation distortion and signal to noise ratio.
Low-power serial ADC runs up to 200Ksample/s
New from Maxim Integrated Products, the MAX1162 serial-interface 16bit A/D convertor connects directly to SPI, QSPI and Microwire devices without additional interface logic.
The device controls a starburst numeric or alphanumeric VFD (vacuum fluorescent display) up to 96 characters and supports displays with either one or two characters per grid.
The MAX6850 has 16-step digital brightness control.
Suited for displays with predominantly seven-, 14- and 16-segment alphanumeric characters, the MAX6850 includes a 104-character font and 24 characters of user-defined fonts on chip.
An internal output map works like a crosspoint switch to connect any tube-driver pin to any grid or anode.
The driver is therefore compatible with any VFD tube-driver combination, including chip-in-glass (CIG).
A cursor segment and up to four annunciators may be assigned per grid, each with independent two-phase blink control.
The MAX6850 also provides timing to generate PWM waveforms to bridge-drive the VFD filament easily from a DC supply.
The filament drive is synchronized to the display multiplexing to eliminate beat artifacts.
Dead-clock protection is built in, protecting the display in the event of a multiplex clock failure.
Operating from a 2.7 to 3.6V supply, the MAX6850 features the standard automotive temperature range (-40 to +125C) and is available in a 16-pin QSOP (6 x 9.9mm) package.
Prices start at $4.17 (1000-up, FOB USA).
• Maxim Integrated Products: contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Electronicstalk email newsletter
• Electronicstalk Home Page
