The photocoupler is particularly suitable for electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), says Toshiba.

It consists of a high-output GaAlAs LED that is optically coupled to a high-speed detector. The detector consists of a photodiode and a transistor integrated onto a single chip. A Faraday shield is integrated onto the photodetector chip to provide enhanced levels of common-mode transient immunity – typically up to 15kV/μs. This, notes the company, is an important parameter in electrically noisy automotive environments.

By separating the photodiode and amplification transistor, the collector capacitance is reduced, for lower propagation delays and to make the open-collector TLX9309 faster than transistor output devices. In fact, propagation delay times are guaranteed to be between 0.1 and 1.0μs, with the difference between high to low and low to high transition (|t_pLH-t_pHL|) no more than 0.7μs. These characteristics make the IC photocoupler suitable for high-speed communications such as inverter control or as an interface to intelligent power modules (IPM).

Other performance parameters are isolation of 3750V rms with 5.0mm of creepage and clearance for safety isolation. The photocoupler operates from -0.5 to 30V DC supply and can drive up to 25mA at output voltages up to 20V. The current transfer ratio is in the range 15 to 300 %

The IC is packaged in a 3.7 x 7.0 x 2.2mm, RoHS-compliant, five-pin SO6 package. Operation is over -40 to 125°C. The device, which is now in mass production, is AEC-Q101 qualified for use in automotive applications.