Digi JACKRABBIT BL1800 - Manual (Page 89)

User’s Manual 85
C.3 Chip Select Circuit
Figure C-7 shows a schematic of the chip select circuit.
Figure C-7. Chip Select Circuit
The current drain on the battery in a battery-backed circuit must be kept at a minimum.
When the Jackrabbit board is not powered, the battery keeps the SRAM memory contents
and the real-time clock (RTC) going. The SRAM has a powerdown mode that greatly
reduces power consumption. This powerdown mode is activated by raising the chip select
(CS) signal line. Normally the SRAM requires Vcc to operate. However, only 2 V is
required for data retention in powerdown mode. Thus, when power is removed from the
circuit, the battery voltage needs to be provided to both the SRAM power pin and to the
CS signal line. The CS control circuit accomplishes this task for the CS signal line.
In a powered-up condition, the CS control circuit must allow the processor’s chip select
signal /CS1 to control the SRAM’s CS signal /CSRAM. So, with power applied, /CSRAM
must be the same signal as /CS1, and with power removed, /CSRAM must be held high
(but only needs to be battery voltage high). Q20 and Q21 are MOSFET transistors with
opposing polarity. They are both turned on when power is applied to the circuit. They
allow the CS signal to pass from the processor to the SRAM so that the processor can peri-
odically access the SRAM. When power is removed from the circuit, the transistors will
turn off and isolate /CSRAM from the processor. The isolated /CSRAM line has a 100 k
Ω
pullup resistor to VRAM (R37). This pullup resistor keeps /CSRAM at the VRAM voltage
level (which under no power condition is the backup battery’s regulated voltage at a little
more than 2 V).
/CS1
/CSRAM
/RES Q22
Q20
Q21
D20
C23 R40
R41
R42
R39
R37
VRAM
VRAM