Electronic system designs are becoming more complex as systems designers strive for developing systems that are smarter, smaller, power efficient and more interconnected. Electronic system design trends are driving system designers to incorporate a wide array of microprocessors, FPGAs, and peripheral devices in order to achieve feature sets and system functionality needed by the market. As systems designers try to interconnect the different integrated circuits together, they are often confronted by the design challenge of having to connect two devices operating at two different I/O (input/output) voltage levels. Voltage level mismatches are becoming more prevalent as processor, FPGA, and microcontrollers move to lower core voltage nodes which results in their I/O voltage also scaling down to below common voltage nodes of peripheral devices. The data and control interfaces of devices on different voltage rails cannot be simply connected together and then expected to interoperate. System designers can resolve I/O voltage level differences by level shifting (level translation) the I/O of two devices to common voltage levels so that the devices can interoperate as expected.

Integrated level translation devices provide system designers an easy and cost-effective solution for resolving their system’s I/O level mismatch challenges without having to compromise on performance, power, or size. Integrated level shifting solutions are available in a wide array of I/O types, bit widths, data rate ranges, current drive capabilities, and package options. Texas Instruments’ portfolio of level shifter devices contains many different types of level translation functions that collectively is able to address almost any application requirement. TI’s level translation portfolio includes Auto Directional, Direction Controlled, Fixed Direction, and Application Specific Level Translators in Industrial and Automotive ratings. For a list of recommended level translation devices for common interface types please see Table 1-1. For More information on all of TI’s level translation solutions please visit TI’s level translation landing page at www.ti.com/translation.