
Transmission Formats
MC68HC08LK60 MC68HC908LK60 Advance Information Data Sheet, Rev. 1.1
Freescale Semiconductor
151
13.5 Transmission Formats
During an SPI transmission, data is simultaneously transmitted (shifted out serially) and received (shifted
in serially). A serial clock synchronizes shifting and sampling on the two serial data lines. A slave select
line allows selection of an individual slave SPI device; slave devices that are not selected do not interfere
with SPI bus activities. On a master SPI device, the slave select line can be optionally used to indicate
multiple-master bus contention.
13.5.1 Clock Phase and Polarity Controls
Software can select any of four combinations of serial clock (SPSCK) phase and polarity using two bits
in the SPI control register (SPCR). The clock polarity is specified by the CPOL control bit, which selects
an active high or low clock and has no significant effect on the transmission format.
The clock phase (CPHA) control bit selects one of two fundamentally different transmission formats. The
clock phase and polarity should be identical for the master SPI device and the communicating slave
device. In some cases, the phase and polarity are changed between transmissions to allow a master
device to communicate with peripheral slaves having different requirements.
NOTE
Before writing to the CPOL bit or the CPHA bit, disable the SPI by clearing
the SPI enable bit (SPE).
13.5.2 Transmission Format When CPHA = 0
Figure 13-4 shows an SPI transmission in which CPHA is logic 0. The figure should not be used as a
replacement for data sheet parametric information. Two waveforms are shown for SPSCK: one for
CPOL = 0 and another for CPOL = 1. The diagram may be interpreted as a master or slave timing
diagram since the serial clock (SPSCK), master in/slave out (MISO), and master out/slave in (MOSI) pins
are directly connected between the master and the slave. The MISO signal is the output from the slave,
and the MOSI signal is the output from the master. The SS line is the slave select input to the slave. The
slave SPI drives its MISO output only when its slave select input (SS) is at logic 0, so that only the selected
slave drives to the master. The SS pin of the master is not shown but is assumed to be inactive. The SS
pin of the master must be high or must be reconfigured as general-purpose I/O not affecting the SPI.
(Seethe slave must begin driving its data before the first SPSCK edge, and a falling edge on the SS pin is used
to start the slave data transmission. The slave’s SS pin must be toggled back to high and then low again
NOTE
The SS pin on this device cannot be configured as a general-purpose I/O.
When CPHA = 0 for a slave, the falling edge of SS indicates the beginning of the transmission. This
causes the SPI to leave its idle state and begin driving the MISO pin with the MSB of its data. Once the
transmission begins, no new data is allowed into the shift register from the transmit data register.
Therefore, the SPI data register of the slave must be loaded with transmit data before the falling edge of
SS. Any data written after the falling edge is stored in the transmit data register and transferred to the shift
register after the current transmission.