2.1 Device Address Inputs (A0, A1, A2)

The A0, A1 and A2 pins are device address inputs that are hard-wired (directly to GND or to V_CC) for compatibility with other two-wire Serial EEPROM devices. When the pins are hard-wired, as many as eight devices may be addressed on a single bus system. A device is selected when a corresponding hardware and software match is true. If these pins are left floating, the A0, A1 and A2 pins will be internally pulled down to GND. However, due to capacitive coupling that may appear in customer applications, Microchip recommends always connecting the address pins to a known state. When using a pull‑up resistor, Microchip recommends using 10 kΩ or less.

The A0 pin is also an overvoltage tolerant pin, allowing up to 10V to support the Reversible Software Write Protection (RSWP) feature (see Write Protection).