ISL12023
26
FN6682.3
December 6, 2011
characteristic is the capacitances associated with the crystal.
The load capacitance is normally specified at 12.5pF, although it
can be lower in some cases. There is also a motional
capacitance, which affects the ability of the load capacitance to
pull the oscillation frequency, and it is usually in the range of
2.2fF to 4.0fF.
RTC CLOCK CONTROL
The ISL12023 uses two mechanisms to adjust the RTC clock and
correct for the temperature error of the external crystal.
The Analog Trimming (AT) adjusts the load capacitance seen by
the crystal. Analog switches connect the appropriate capacitance
to change the frequency in increments of 1ppm. The adjustment
range for the ISL12023 is +32/-31ppm.
The AT can be further refined using the BETA register. The BETA
register function is to allow for changes in CM (motional
capacitance), which will affect the incremental frequency change
of the AT adjustment. A simple test procedure uses the BETA
register to bring the step size back to 1ppm.
Normally, the crystal frequency is adjusted at room temperature to
zero out the frequency error using the IATRxx register bits (initial
Analog Trimming). In addition, the IATRxx setting is varied up and
down to record the variation in oscillator frequency compared to
the step change in IATRxx. Once that value is known then the BETA
register is used to adjust the step size to be as close to 1ppm per
IATRxx step as possible. After that adjustment is made, then any
ISL12023 temperature compensation adjustments will use a
1ppm change for each bit change in the internal AT adjustment.
The Digital Trimming (DT) uses clock pulse add/subtract logic to
change the RTC timing during temperature compensation. The
DT steps are much coarser than the AT steps and are therefore
used for large adjustments. The DT steps are 30.5ppm, and the
range is from -305ppm to +305ppm. The Frequency Output
function will show the clock variation with DT settings, except for
the 32,768Hz setting, which only shows the AT control.
ACTIVE TEMPERATURE COMPENSATION
The ISL12023 contains an intelligent logic circuit which takes the
temperature sensor digital value as the only input variable. It
then uses the register values for the crystal variables
α and T0,
and combines those with calibration from the BETA and ITR0
registers to produce “Final” values for the AT and DT, known as
FATR (Final AT Register) and FDTR (Final DT Register). Those AT
and DT values combine to directly compensate for the
temperature error shown in Figure
21.The temperature sensor produces a new value every 60s (or up to
10 minutes in battery mode), which triggers the logic to calculate
a new AT/DT value set. For every temperature calculation result,
there can only be one corresponding AT/DT correction value.
Measuring Oscillator Accuracy
The best way to analyze the ISL12023 frequency accuracy is to
set the IRQ/FOUT pin for a specific frequency, and look at the
output of that pin on a high accuracy frequency counter (at least
7 digits accuracy). Note that the IRQ/FOUT is an drain output and
will require a pull-up resistor.
Using the 1.0Hz output frequency is the most convenient as the
ppm error is as expressed in Equation 7:
Other frequencies may be used for measurement but the error
calculation becomes more complex.
When the proper layout guidelines are observed, the oscillator
should start-up in most circuits in less than 1s. When testing RTC
circuits, a common impulse is to apply a scope probe to the
circuit at the X2 pin (oscillator output) and observe the waveform.
DO NOT DO THIS! Although in some cases you may see a usable
waveform, due to the parasitics (usually 10pF to ground) applied
with the scope probe, there will be no useful information in that
waveform other than the fact that the circuit is oscillating. The X2
output is sensitive to capacitive impedance so the voltage levels
and the frequency will be affected by the parasitic elements in
the scope probe. Use the FOUT output and a frequency counter for
the most accurate results.
Temperature Compensation Operation
The ISL12023 temperature compensation feature needs to be
enabled by the user. This must be done in a specific order, as
follows:
1. Read register 0Dh, the BETA register. This register contains
the 5-bit BETA trimmed value which is automatically loaded
on initial power-up. Mask off the 5LSB’s of the value just read.
2. Bit 7 of the BETA register is the master enable control for
temperature sense operation. Set this to “1” to allow
continuous temperature frequency correction. Frequency
correction will then happen every 60s with VDD applied.
3. Bits 5 and 6 of the BETA register control temperature
compensation in battery-backup mode (see Table
16). Set the
values for the operation desired.
4. Write back to register 0Dh making sure not to change the 5
LSB values, and include the desired compensation control
bits.
Note that every time the BETA register is written with the TSE bit
= 1, a temperature compensation cycle is instigated and a new
correction value will be loaded into the FATR/FDTR registers (if
the temperature changed since the last conversion).
Also note that registers 0Bh and 0Ch, the ITR0 and ALPHA
registers, should not be changed. If they must be written be sure
to write the same values that are recalled from initial power-up.
The ITR0 register may be written if the user wishes to re-calibrate
the oscillator frequency at room temperature for aging or board
mounting. The original recalled value can be re-written if desired
after testing.
For further information on the operation of the ISL12023 and
temperature compensated RTC’s, see Intersil Application Note
AN1389, “Using Intersil’s High Accuracy Real Time Clock
Module”.
Daylight Savings Time (DST) Example
DST involves setting the forward and back times and allowing the
RTC device to automatically advance the time or set the time
ppm error
F
(
OUT
1
) 1e6
–
=
(EQ. 7)