Future Technology Devices International Ltd. Technical Note TN_107 FTDI Chipset Feature Comparison Document Reference No.: FT_000108 Version 1.0 Issue Date: 2008-12-08 This technical note compares several FTDI devices and highlights their main features in order to gain better understanding which one is the best option for each customer application. Future Technology Devices International Limited (FTDI) Unit1, 2 Seaward Place, Centurion Business Park,, Glasgow G41 1HH United Kingdom Tel.: +44 (0) 141 429 2777 Fax: + 44 (0) 141 429 2758 E-Mail (Support): [email protected] Web: http://www.ftdichip.com Copyright © 2008 Future Technology Devices International Limited Document Reference No.: FT_000108 FTDI Chipset Feature Comparison Technical Note TN_107 Version 1.0 Clearance No.: FTDI#71 1 Introduction............................................................................................ 2 2 Chipset summary .................................................................................. 3 3 2.1 FT232BL USB UART (USB - Serial) IC ............................................................... 3 2.2 FT245BL USB FIFO (USB - Parallel) IC .............................................................. 3 2.3 FT232R USB UART (USB - Serial) IC .................................................................. 3 2.4 FT245R USB FIFO (USB - PARALLEL FIFO) IC ................................................. 3 2.5 FT2232D Dual USB UART/FIFO IC ...................................................................... 4 2.6 FT2232H Dual High Speed USB to Multipurpose UART/FIFO IC ..................... 4 2.7 FT4232H Quad High Speed USB to Multipurpose UART/MPSSE IC ............... 4 Chipset comparison tables ................................................................... 5 3.1 FT232/FT245BL vs FT232/FT245R ...................................................................... 5 3.2 FT2232H vs FT4232H ........................................................................................... 5 3.3 FT2232D (Full Speed) and FT2232H (High Speed) ............................................ 6 4 Contact Information............................................................................... 7 5 Appendix – Block Diagrams ................................................................. 8 6 5.1 Terms description ............................................................................................... 8 5.2 Links to datasheets ............................................................................................. 8 5.3 FT2232H Block Diagram ..................................................................................... 9 5.4 FT4232H Block Diagram ................................................................................... 10 Appendix B - Revision History ........................................................... 11 Revision Record Sheet .............................................................................. 12 Copyright © 2008 Future Technology Devices International Limited 1 Document Reference No.: FT_000108 FTDI Chipset Feature Comparison Technical Note TN_107 Version 1.0 Clearance No.: FTDI#71 1 Introduction This technical note compares several chipsets from the FT232/FT245BL, FT232/FT245RL family and the FT4232H/FT2232H USB dual and quad High Speed USB to Multipurpose UART/MPSSE devices. Tables in section 3 highlight the important features of each chipset, making it easy to choose the most suitable solution for each application. A detailed block diagram of the FT2232H and FT4232H can be found in Appendix. Copyright © 2008 Future Technology Devices International Limited 2 Document Reference No.: FT_000108 FTDI Chipset Feature Comparison Technical Note TN_107 Version 1.0 Clearance No.: FTDI#71 2 Chipset summary 2.1 FT232BL USB UART (USB - Serial) IC The FT232BL is the lead free version of the 2nd generation of FTDI’s popular USB UART I.C. This device not only adds extra functionality to its FT8U232AM predecessor and reduces external component count, but also maintains a high degree of pin compatibility with the original, making it easy to upgrade or cost reduce existing designs as well as increasing the potential for using the device in new application areas. 2.2 FT245BL USB FIFO (USB - Parallel) IC The FT245BL is the lead free version of the 2nd generation of FTDI’s popular USB FIFO I.C. This device not only adds extra functionality to its FT8U245AM predecessor and reduces external component count, but also maintains a high degree of pin compatibility with the original, making it easy to upgrade or cost reduce existing designs as well as increasing the potential for using the device in new application areas. 2.3 FT232R USB UART (USB - Serial) IC The FT232R is a USB to serial UART Interface. It is a single chip USB to asynchronous serial data interface solution, with a unique USB FTDIChip-ID™ feature, synchronous and asynchronous bit bang interface options and is USB 2.0 Full Speed compatible. 2.4 FT245R USB FIFO (USB - PARALLEL FIFO) IC The FT245R is a USB to parallel FFIO interface. It is a single chip USB to parallel FIFO bidirectional data interface solution, with a unique USB FTDIChip-ID™ feature, synchronous and asynchronous bit bang interface options and is USB 2.0 Full Speed compatible. Copyright © 2008 Future Technology Devices International Limited 3 Document Reference No.: FT_000108 FTDI Chipset Feature Comparison Technical Note TN_107 Version 1.0 Clearance No.: FTDI#71 2.5 FT2232D Dual USB UART/FIFO IC The FT2232D is an updated version of FTDI’s 3rd generation USB UART / FIFO IC family. This device features two Multi-Purpose UART / FIFO controllers which can be configured individually in several different modes. As well as a UART interface, FIFO interface and Bit-Bang IO modes of the 2nd generation FT232BM and FT245BM devices, the FT2232D offers a variety of additional new modes of operation, including a Multi-Protocol Synchronous Serial Engine (MPSSE) interface which is designed specifically for synchronous serial protocols such as JTAG, I2C, and SPI bus. 2.6 FT2232H Dual High Speed USB to Multipurpose UART/FIFO IC The FT2232H is FTDI’s 5th generation of USB devices. The FT2232H is a dual channel USB 2.0 High Speed (480Mb/s) to UART/FIFO IC. It has the capability of being configured in a variety of industry standard serial or parallel interfaces. 2.7 FT4232H Quad High Speed USB to Multipurpose UART/MPSSE IC The FT4232H is FTDI’s 5th generation of USB devices. The FT4232H is a quad channel USB 2.0 High Speed (480Mb/s) to UART/MPSSE ICs. The device features 4 interfaces. Two of these have an option to independently configure an MPSSE engine. This allows the FT4232H to operate as two UART/Bit-Bang ports plus two MPSSE engines used to emulate JTAG, SPI, I2C, Bit-bang or other synchronous serial modes. Copyright © 2008 Future Technology Devices International Limited 4 Document Reference No.: FT_000108 FTDI Chipset Feature Comparison Technical Note TN_107 Version 1.0 Clearance No.: FTDI#71 3 Chipset comparison tables 3.1 FT232/FT245BL vs FT232/FT245R The following table highlights and compares the features of technology BL and R generation of devices. FUNCTION FT232BL USB UART FT 232R FT245BL FT245 ASYNC FIFO ASYNC Bit-Bang SYNC Bit-Bang CBUS Bit-Bang External Components FT245R 12 2 12 2 3.2 FT2232H vs FT4232H The following table highlights and compares the features of FT2232H and FT4232H. FUNCTION FT2232H Channel A FT4232H Channel B MPSSE SPI Channel A Channel B I2C JTAG USB UART FT245 SYNC FIFO FT245 ASYNC FIFO Custom Serial SYNC BitBang ASYNC BitBang CPU Style FIFO Interface Channel D Fast Serial Interface Host Bus Emulation Channel C combines both channels Copyright © 2008 Future Technology Devices International Limited 5 Document Reference No.: FT_000108 FTDI Chipset Feature Comparison Technical Note TN_107 Version 1.0 Clearance No.: FTDI#71 3.3 FT2232D (Full Speed) and FT2232H (High Speed) FT2232D FT2232H General USB Bus Speed 12 MHz FULL SPEED 480 MHz HIGH SPEED Package 48 pin LQFP 64 pin QFN or 64 pin LQFP Power Supply 5.0V (30mA) core, 3.3V IO 1.8V core (70mA), 3.3V IO/PHY Voltage Regulator Output 3.3V 1.8V TX: 128 bytes/channel TX: 4096 bytes/channel RX: 384 bytes/channel RX: 4096 bytes/channel I/O Drive strength 2,8mA 2,4,8,16mA Slew Rate control No Yes Asynchronous serial UART interface, asynchronous FIFO interface, asynchronous and synchronous bit-bang modes, fast serial interface, host bus emulation, MPSSE and CPU FIFO Mode. Asynchronous serial UART interface, asynchronous and synchronous FIFO interface, asynchronous and synchronous bit-bang modes, fast serial interface, host bus emulation, MPSSE and CPU FIFO Mode. Buffer Sizes Modes of operation RS232/422/485 RS232 Baud rate Max 3 MegaBaud 12 MegaBaud Multi Protocol Synchronous Serial Engines No. of MPSSE Engines 1 2 MPSSE Max Clock rate 6 MHz 30 MHz 12 per channel 16 per channel Total I/O pins FT245 FIFO interface Max Data Rate (Async) <1 MegaByte/Sec TBD Max Data Rate (Sync) n/a > 25 MegaBytes/Sec Copyright © 2008 Future Technology Devices International Limited 6 Document Reference No.: FT_000108 FTDI Chipset Feature Comparison Technical Note TN_107 Version 1.0 Clearance No.: FTDI#71 4 Contact Information Head Office – Glasgow, UK Future Technology Devices International Limited Unit 1, 2 Seaward Place, Centurion Business Park Glasgow G41 1HH United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0) 141 429 2777 Fax: +44 (0) 141 429 2758 E-mail (Sales) [email protected] E-mail (Support) [email protected] E-mail (General Enquiries) [email protected] Web Site URL http://www.ftdichip.com Web Shop URL http://www.ftdichip.com Branch Office – Taipei, Taiwan Future Technology Devices International Limited (Taiwan) 4F, No 18-3, Sec. 6 Mincyuan East Road Neihu District Taipei 114 Taiwan, R.O.C. Tel: +886 (0) 2 8791 3570 Fax: +886 (0) 2 8791 3576 E-mail (Sales) [email protected] E-mail (Support) [email protected] E-mail (General Enquiries) [email protected] Web Site URL http://www.ftdichip.com Branch Office – Hillsboro, Oregon, USA Future Technology Devices International Limited (USA) 7235 NW Evergreen Parkway, Suite 600 Hillsboro, OR 97123-5803 USA Tel: +1 (503) 547 0988 Fax: +1 (503) 547 0987 E-Mail (Sales) [email protected] E-Mail (Support) [email protected] Web Site URL http://www.ftdichip.com Distributor and Sales Representatives Please visit the Sales Network page of the FTDI Web site for the contact details of our distributor(s) and sales representative(s) in your country. Vinculum is part of Future Technology Devices International Ltd. Neither the whole nor any part of the information contained in, or the product described in this manual, may be adapted or reproduced in any material or electronic form without the prior written consent of the copyright holder. This product and its documentation are supplied on an as-is basis and no warranty as to their suitability for any particular purpose is either made or implied. Future Technology Devices International Ltd will not accept any claim for damages howsoever arising as a result of use or failure of this product. Your statutory rights are not affected. This product or any variant of it is not intended for use in any medical appliance, device or system in which the failure of the product might reasonably be expected to result in personal injury. This document provides preliminary information that may be subject to change without notice. No freedom to use patents or other intellectual property rights is implied by the publication of this document. Future Technology Devices International Ltd, Unit 1, 2 Seaward Place, Centurion Business Park, Glasgow G41 1HH United Kingdom. Scotland Registered Number: SC136640 Copyright © 2008 Future Technology Devices International Limited 7 Document Reference No.: FT_000108 FTDI Chipset Feature Comparison Technical Note TN_107 Version 1.0 Clearance No.: FTDI#71 5 Appendix – Block Diagrams 5.1 Terms description Terms Description USB UART RS232 UART interface FT245 FIFO FT245 style synchronous or asynchronous FIFO interface SPI, I2C,JTAG, Custom Serial Supported serial interfaces configured using MPSSE Parallel IO (similar to GPIO). Bit-Bang modes CPU-Style FIFO Interface CPU-style FIFO interface mode which allows a CPU to interface to USB Fast Serial Interface High-speed optical bi-directional isolated serial data transfer Host Bus Emulation Interface Combine channel A and channel B to be configured as a host bus emulation interface mode which emulates a standard 8048 or 8051 MCU host 5.2 Links to datasheets Chipset Web link to datasheet FT232BL http://www.ftdichip.com/Documents/DataSheets/DS_FT232BL.pdf FT245BL http://www.ftdichip.com/Documents/DataSheets/DS_FT245BL.pdf FT232R http://www.ftdichip.com/Documents/DataSheets/DS_FT232R.pdf FT245R http://www.ftdichip.com/Documents/DataSheets/DS_FT245R.pdf FT2232D http://www.ftdichip.com/Documents/DataSheets/DS_FT2232D.pdf FT2232H http://www.ftdichip.com/Documents/DataSheets/DS_FT2232H_V110.pdf FT4232H http://www.ftdichip.com/Documents/DataSheets/DS_FT4232H_V110.pdf Copyright © 2008 Future Technology Devices International Limited 8 Document Reference No.: FT_000108 FTDI Chipset Feature Comparison Technical Note TN_107 Version 1.0 Clearance No.: FTDI#71 5.3 FT2232H Block Diagram Copyright © 2008 Future Technology Devices International Limited 9 Document Reference No.: FT_000108 FTDI Chipset Feature Comparison Technical Note TN_107 Version 1.0 Clearance No.: FTDI#71 5.4 FT4232H Block Diagram Copyright © 2008 Future Technology Devices International Limited 10 Document Reference No.: FT_000108 FTDI Chipset Feature Comparison Technical Note TN_107 Version 1.0 Clearance No.: FTDI#71 6 Appendix B - Revision History Revision History Version 1.00 Initial Release 9th December, 2008 Copyright © 2008 Future Technology Devices International Limited 11