Product category: Analogue and Mixed Signal ICs
News Release from: Maxim Integrated Products | Subject: MAX6851
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 27 February 2003
VFD controller includes filament drive
control
The MAX6851 is the world's first vacuum-fluorescent display controller with embedded fonts, multiplex timing control, and filament timing for flicker-free displays.
The MAX6851 is the world's first vacuum-fluorescent display (VFD) controller with embedded fonts, multiplex timing control, and filament timing for flicker-free displays A 400kHz two-wire SMBus/I2C-compatible bus interfaces the MAX6851 to a microprocessor
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 27 Aug 2002 at 8.00am (UK)
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The MAX6851 controls a starburst numeric or alphanumeric VFD up to 96 characters.
Additionally, it supports displays with either one or two characters per grid with 16-step digital brightness control.
Suited for displays with predominantly 7-, 14-, and 16-segment alphanumeric characters, the MAX6851 includes a 104-character font and 24 characters of user-defined fonts on chip.
An internal output map works like a crosspoint switch connecting 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 MAX6851 also provides timing to generate PWM waveforms to bridge-drive the VFD filament easily from a DC supply.
The filament drive is synchronised to the display multiplexing to eliminate beat artefacts.
Dead-clock protection is built-in, protecting the display in the event of a multiplex clock failure.
The MAX6851 operates from a 2.7 to 3.6V supply in the automotive temperature range (-40 to +125C).
It is available in a 16-pin QSOP (6 x 9.9mm) package.
Prices start at $4.17 (1000-up, FOB USA).
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