1998 Jul 30 9
Philips Semiconductors Product specification
Universal LCD driver for low multiplex
rates
PCF8576C
6.1 Power-on reset
At power-on the PCF8576C resets to a starting condition
as follows:
1. All backplane outputs are set to VDD.
2. All segment outputs are set to VDD.
3. The drive mode ‘1 : 4 multiplex with1⁄3bias’ is selected.
4. Blinking is switched off.
5. Input and output bank selectors are reset (as defined
in Table 5).
6. The I2C-bus interface is initialized.
7. The data pointer and the subaddress counter are
cleared.
Data transfers on the I
2
C-bus should be avoided for 1 ms
following power-on to allow completion of the reset action.
6.2 LCD bias generator
The full-scale LCD voltage (V
op
) is obtained from
VDD− V
LCD
. The LCD voltage may be temperature
compensated externally through the V
LCD
supply to pin 12.
Fractional LCD biasing voltages are obtained from an
internal voltage divider of the three series resistors
connected between VDD and V
LCD
. The centre resistor can
be switched out of the circuit to provide a1⁄2bias voltage
level for the 1 : 2 multiplex configuration.
6.3 LCD voltage selector
The LCD voltage selector co-ordinates the multiplexing of
the LCD in accordance with the selected LCD drive
configuration. The operation of the voltage selector is
controlled by MODE SET commands from the command
decoder. The biasing configurations that apply to the
preferred modes of operation, together with the biasing
characteristics as functions of V
op=VDD
− V
LCD
and the
resulting discrimination ratios (D), are given in Table 2.
A practical value for Vop is determined by equating V
off(rms)
with a defined LCD threshold voltage (Vth), typically when
the LCD exhibits approximately 10% contrast. In the static
drive mode a suitable choice is Vop>3Vth approximately.
Multiplex drive ratios of 1 : 3 and 1 : 4 with
1
⁄2bias are
possible but the discrimination and hence the contrast
ratios are smaller ( = 1.732 for 1 : 3 multiplex or
= 1.528 for 1 : 4 multiplex).
The advantage of these modes is a reduction of the LCD
full-scale voltage V
op
as follows:
• 1 : 3 multiplex (
1
⁄2bias):
Vop= = 2.449 V
off(rms)
• 1 : 4 multiplex (1⁄2bias):
V
op
= = 2.309 V
off(rms)
These compare with Vop=3V
off(rms)
when1⁄3bias is used.
3
21
3
----------
6V
off rms〈〉
×
43×()
3
----------------------- -
Table 2 Preferred LCD drive modes: summary of characteristics
LCD DRIVE MODE
NUMBER OF
LCD BIAS
CONFIGURATION
BACKPLANES LEVELS
static 1 2 static 0 1 ∞
1:2 2 3
1
⁄
2
0.354 0.791 2.236
1:2 2 4
1
⁄
3
0.333 0.745 2.236
1:3 3 4
1
⁄
3
0.333 0.638 1.915
1:4 4 4
1
⁄
3
0.333 0.577 1.732
V
off(rms)
V
op
-------------------- -
V
on(rms)
V
op
-------------------- -
D
V
on(rms)
V
off(rms)
-------------------- -
=