SWRU626 December 2025 CC3501E , CC3551E
The common TX FIFO is a 16-bit wide, 16 location deep, first-in first-out memory buffer given the selected SPI data frame size is greater than 8 bits. The organization of this FIFO is modified dynamically if the selected SPI data frame size is greater than 8 bits, the common TX FIFO is a 16-bit wide, 8 location deep, first-in first-out memory buffer. The CPU writes data to the FIFO via the SPI.TXDATA register and data is stored in the FIFO until the data is read out by the transmission logic.
When configured as a controller (or a peripheral), parallel data is written into the TX FIFO before serial conversion and transmission to the attached peripheral (or controller) through the PICO (or POCI) pin.
In peripheral mode, the SPI transmits data each time the controller initiates a transaction. If the TX FIFO is empty and the controller initiates a transaction, the peripheral will transmit garbage data. User or software is responsible for making valid data available in the FIFO as needed. The SPI can be configured to generate an interrupt when a configurable level within the FIFO is selected via SPI:IFLS, or a Host DMA request when the FIFO is not FULL.