A single IC with SPI/I²C UART interface with built-in oscillator

Maxim Integrated Products has introduced a device what it claims as the industry's lowest power, fastest, and smallest serial UART to communicate over an SPI/I²C interface. The MAX3107 feature fast data rates of 24Mbps and deep FIFO (128 words) to save resources on system's microcontroller.

The tiny MAX3107 UART offers an integrated oscillator. MAX3107 is ideal for applications such as industrial field busses that require high-speed PROFIBUS DP communication protocols, and for low-power handheld consumer MIDs (mobile Internet devices).

Maxim suggests, for short, local-link applications as in a mobile phone, this UART can serve as the buffer between the system's applications processor (i.e., a microcontroller) and modules like Bluetooth, satellite radio, GPS, or 3G modems. Higher data rates are now used for communication with Bluetooth (up to 3Mbps) and 3G modems (up to 20Mbps). These data rates typically cannot be supported by a microcontroller's embedded UART. To address these communication demands, designers traditionally used an external UART that supported these speeds. That additional UART also helped to offload (i.e., buffer) the microprocessor's activities.

The MAX3107 UART interfaces an SPI or I²C synchronous serial microprocessor bus to asynchronous, serial data-communication ports like RS-485, RS-232, PROFIBUS, or IrDA. The PROFIBUS DP standard requires fast data-rate communication (up to 12Mbps) which most embedded UARTs on today's microcontrollers cannot support. The MAX3107's 24Mbps performance is ideal for these communication protocols.

Maxim suggests some more advantages of this device, to know more visit www.maxim-ic.com/Tiny-UART

The MAX3107 operates from +2.35V to +3.6V and is fully specified over the industrial -40°C to +85°C temperature range.
Package: 24-pin (3.5mm x 3.5mm) TQFN
Price: Each $3.25 for 1000 pieces (FOB, USA).