
November 2000
11
MIC184
MIC184
Micrel
Shutdown Mode
Setting the SHDN bit in the configuration register halts the
otherwise continuous conversions by the A/D converter. The
MIC184
’
s power consumption drops to 1
μ
A typical in shut-
down mode. All registers may be read from, or written to,
while in shutdown mode. Serial bus activity will slightly
increase the MIC184
’
s power consumption.
Entering shutdown mode will not affect the state of INT when
the device is in comparator mode (MODE = 0). However, If
the device is shut down while in interrupt mode, the INT pin
will be deasserted and the internal latch (STS) holding the
interrupt status will be cleared. Therefore, no interrupts will be
generated while the MIC184 is in shutdown mode, and the
interrupt status will not be retained. It is important to note,
however, that the cause of the last temperature event will be
retained in the MIC184. This is described further in
“
Com-
parator and Interrupt Modes
”
below. The diode fault detection
mechanism (see
“
Diode Faults
”
) requires one or more A/D
conversion cycles to detect external sensor faults. Hence, no
diode faults will be detected while the device is in shutdown.
Comparator and Interrupt Modes
Depending on the setting of the MODE bit in the configuration
register, the INT output will behave either as an interrupt
request signal or a thermostatic control signal. Thermostatic
operation is known as comparator mode The INT output is
asserted whenever the measured temperature, as reported
in the TEMP register, exceeds the threshold programmed in
the T_SET register for the number of conversions specified
by Fault_Queue (described below). In comparator mode, INT
will remain asserted unless and until the measured tempera-
ture falls below the value in the T_HYST register for
Fault_Queue conversions. No action on the part of the host
is required for operation in comparator mode. Note that
entering shutdown mode will not affect the state of INT when
the device is in comparator mode.
In interrupt mode once a temperature event has caused STS
to be set, and the INT output to be asserted, they will not be
automatically deasserted when the measured temperature
falls below T_HYST. They can only be deasserted by reading
any of the MIC184's internal registers or by putting the device
into SHUTDOWN mode. If the most recent temperature
event was an overtemperature condition, STS will not be set
again, and INT cannot be reasserted, until the device has
detected that TEMP < T_HYST. Similarly, if the most recent
temperature event was an undertemperature condition, STS
will in be set again, and INT cannot be reasserted, until the
device has detected that TEMP > T_SET. This keeps the
internal logic of the MIC184 backward compatible with that of
the LM75 and similar devices. There s a software override or
this:while the MIC184 is operating in interrupt mode, the part
can be unconditionally set to monitor for an overtemperature
condition, regardless of what caused the last temperature
event. This is done by clearing the MODE bit, and then
immediately resetting it to 1. Following this sequence the next
temperature event detected will be an overtemperature con-
dition, regardless of whether the last temperature event was
the result of an overtemperature or undertemperature condi-
tion.
In both modes, the MIC184 will be responsive to overtem-
perature events upon power up.
Fault_Queue
A Fault_Queue (programmable digital filter) is provided in the
MIC184 to prevent false tripping due to thermal or electrical
noise. Two bits, CONFIG[4:3], set the depth of Fault_Queue.
Fault_Queue then determines the number of consecutive
temperature events (TEMP > T_SET or TEMP < T_HYST)
which must occur in order for the condition to be considered
valid. As an example, assume the MIC184 is in comparator
mode, and CONFIG[4:3] is programmed with 10
b
. Then the
measured temperature would have to exceed T_SET for four
consecutive A/D conversions before INT would be asserted
or the status bit set. Similarly, TEMP would have to be less
than T_HYST for four consecutive conversions before INT
would be reset.
Like any filter, the Fault_Queue function also has the effect of
delaying the detection of temperature events. In this ex-
ample, it would take 4
×
t
CONV
to detect a temperature event.
The depth of Fault_Queue vs. D[4:3] of the configuration
register is shown in Table 4.
Handling Interrupts
The MIC184 may be either polled by the host, or request the
host
’
s attention via the INT pin. In the case of polled opera-
tion, the host periodically reads the contents of CONFIG to
check the state of the status bit. The act of reading CONFIG
clears the status bit, STS. If more than one event that sets the
status bit occurs before the host polls the MIC184, only the
fact that at least one such event has occurred will be apparent
to the host.
If TEMP < T_HYST or TEMP > T_SET for Fault_Queue
conversions, the status bit STS will be set in the CONFIG
register. This action cannot be masked. However, a tempera-
ture event will only generate an interrupt signal on INT if
interrupts from the MIC184 are enabled (IM = 0 and MODE = 1
in the configuration register). Reading any register following
an interrupt will cause INT to be deasserted, and will clear
STS. The host should read the contents of the configuration
register after receiving an interrupt to confirm that the MIC184
was the source of the interrupt. This is shown in Figure 7. As
noted above, putting the device into shutdown mode will also
deassert INT and clear STS. Therefore, this usually should
not be done before completing the appropriate interrupt
service routine(s).
Since temperature-to-digital conversions continue while INT
is asserted, it is possible that temperature could change
between the MIC184
’
s assertion of its INT output and the
host
’
s response to the interrupt. It is good practice when
]
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*
Table 4. Fault_Queue Depth Settings