In complex industrial and automotive systems, DC ground offsets and AC ground noise are common due to long cable runs, high-current loads, and separate power supplies that introduce different ground references across subsystems. These conditions lead to ground potential differences; disrupting communication and degrading signal integrity. As an example, in automotive systems, multiple components—such as, electronic control units (ECUs), sensors, and actuators—share a common chassis ground, but varying current paths and voltage drops can introduce ground offsets. This shift in ground can interfere with sensitive circuits, such as sensors and communication lines; leading to performance issues.

Texas Instruments' latest family of ground-level translator devices features patented technology and addresses static and dynamic ground offset issues, in systems spanning millivolts to ±80V, to achieve robust communication across subsystems. The new ground-level translator portfolio delivers compactness, at 1/7th the size of existing methods, and scalability across multiple channel counts and configurations. This new family offers a more targeted device for a growing system-level design problem.

Figure 1 The TXGx041 Used in an Automotive Application to Address Ground Offset

The TXG product family offers these features to resolve the design challenges of customers:

• Ground voltage DC shift up to ±80V
• AC noise rejection up to 130V_PP at 1MHz
• CMTI of 1kV/µs at 40V
• Up to 250Mbps data rate
• Low prop delay (< 5ns)
• Low Ch-Ch skew (0.35ns)
• Voltage level translation from 1.8V to 5V
• Low power consumption (0.65mA/Ch)
• Wide temperature range (-40°C to +125°C)

The TXG family has a comprehensive portfolio to support a variety of application needs. Table 1 shows the different part numbers based on the ground offset, channel count, and signal direction. Table 2 displays each channel count with the respective package and package area.

Table 2 Ground-Level Translator Package Information

Number of Channels	Package Size
4 Ch	RUC X2SON-14 (4mm2)	DYY SOT-14 (13.69mm2 )	DBQ QSOP-16 (29.4mm2)
2 Ch	DSG WSON-8 (4mm2)	DDF SOT-23-8 (8.12mm2)	D SOIC-8 (29.4mm2)
1 Ch	DSE WSON-6 (2.25mm2)