This new IC has a high voltage supply rating (VPP - VNN) of 220V and is capable of switching analog signals (VSIG) of up to 200V peak-to-peak.  Each channel has a switch resistance (RSW) of 22 ohms max. @ ISIG (signal current) = 200mA and VPP = 110V / VNN = -110V.  The small signal RSW is 27 ohms max. @ ISIG = 5mA, VPP = 110V / VNN = -110V.  Each switch has a peak current rating of 2A.  The switch crosstalk as well as the off-isolation are 45db typical.  This IC has a very low quiescent current (IPPQ and INNQ) of 10ưA typical for the high voltage supply, which allows for efficient operation.  The logic section of this IC operates at either 5V or 12V and consists of two individually controlled latches that turn on two sets of 8 high voltage switches. 

Applications for the HV208 include medical ultrasound imaging equipment, test equipment, telecommunications diagnostics and instrumentation for many industrial products.

Commenting on this new IC, Dilip Kapur, Director of Marketing at Supertex, Inc., said, " This 16 channel product offers the highest density of any high voltage analog switch IC available in the industry.  Supertex has previously offered switches up to 12 output channels.  In medical ultrasound diagnostic applications, it will allow construction of smaller scan heads with a large number of piezoelectric transducers for improved image quality."

For more technical information, contact Dilip Kapur at (408) 744-0100; or access the Supertex web site.

You don't often think about the inside of a scanning head on a product such as an ultrasound machine; but the quality of the product's output is very much dependent on what can be squeezed into the physical size of the head. The same is not necessarily true of other applications but even in those, such as test & measurement, the improvement in channel capacity could fairly dramatically change the way the front-end is thought about and designed. I am still continually amazed at Supertex' ability to produce analog semiconductors with these kinds of breakdown voltages and peak currents, but they do, and they just get better with higher ratings and more switches per device. This is an extraordinarily specialized area of the market but Supertex seem to hake little time sitting back in the market as they continue to drive it.

This technology does not come cheap, of course. The price of the HV20822FG (48-pin TQFP) is $31.03 in 1000-piece lots.  Samples are available from stock and production lead times are 4 to 6 weeks. The IC is also available in die.