Abstract

Texas Instruments (TI) opto-emulators combine the behavior of traditional optocouplers with TI’s silicon dioxide (SiO₂)-based isolation technology. Despite their preferred isolation performance, digital signal isolators cannot directly replace optocouplers in all circuits due to the analog characteristics of optocoupler inputs and outputs. Opto-emulators bridge this gap by providing equivalent input and output signal behavior while offering pin-to-pin package compatibility with the industry's most popular optocouplers, facilitating seamless integration into existing designs. These products appear just like optocouplers from a system design engineer’s perspective but leverage TI’s expertise for the emulated input and output circuitry and TI's SiO₂ isolation barrier technology. Why create such a semiconductor product? The answer is simple: provide designers the best of both worlds.