Introduction
| Author: Charles West, Microchip Technology Inc. |
The Improved Inter-Integrated Circuit (I3C®) communication protocol is an enhanced version of the widely used Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) protocol. I3C communication uses a two-wire Controller/Target architecture that is backward compatible with I2C but offers several performance advantages including increased speed, dynamic addressing, and in-band interrupts, just to name a few. I3C is developed by the MIPI® Alliance. Further details about the protocol can be found in the MIPI I3C specification available at: www.mipi.org/mipi-i3c-basic-download.
The PIC18-Q20 series of microcontrollers (MCUs) is the first advanced 8-bit MCU developed by Microchip that features an on-chip I3C target module. The PIC18-Q20 family also features Multi-Voltage Input Output (MVIO), which allows groups of I/Os to operate on different voltage domains. The MVIO on the PIC18-Q20 devices features special MVIO pins designed with I3C in mind, allowing communication over I3C even at bus voltages as low as 1.0V. The I3C module supports 12.5 MHz bus speeds, in-band interrupts, hot-join, dynamic addressing, and many of the I3C Common Command Codes (CCCs). It also offers target functionality and SDR modes. For comprehensive details on supported features, please refer to the PIC18-Q20 data sheet available at: www.microchip.com/pic18-q20.
In addition to the I3C specification, the MIPI Alliance has developed a Conformance Test Suite for I3C v1.1.1 and I3C Basic v1.1.1. This Conformance Test Suite (CTS) provides a set of tests designed to enhance interoperability among various devices that implement the I3C protocol. The test suite includes methods for testing many of the core I3C features. Utilizing the CTS to test a device can provide greater assurance of its proper functionality across diverse I3C environments. For comprehensive details, please refer to the CTS documentation available at: www.mipi.org/i3c-test-suite-download.
The I3C module on the PIC18-Q20 family has been tested against the CTS to assist developers in implementing I3C applications using these devices. This document outlines the results and details of the testing methods. Since the device exclusively supports I3C target Single Data Rate (SDR) mode, only the tests pertaining to SDR-Only targets were conducted. Below is a summary of the results for the PIC18F16Q20 microcontroller.
| Test | Silicon Revision B2 Results | Silicon Revision C0 Results | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group 1 | T-2.1.1 | Pass | Pass |
| T-2.1.2 | Pass | Pass | |
| T-2.1.3 | Pass | Pass | |
| T-2.1.4 | Partial Pass | Pass | |
| T-2.1.5 | Pass | Pass | |
| T-2.1.6 | Pass | Pass | |
| T-2.1.7 | Pass | Pass | |
| T-2.1.8 | Pass | Pass | |
| T-2.1.9 | Not Pass | Pass | |
| T-2.1.10 | Not Pass | Pass | |
| T-2.1.11 | Pass | Pass | |
| T-2.1.12 | Pass | Pass | |
| T-2.1.13 | Pass | Pass | |
| T-2.1.14 | Pass | Pass | |
| T-2.1.15 | Pass | Pass | |
| Group 2 | T-2.2.1 | Pass | Pass |
| T-2.2.2 | Pass | Pass | |
| T-2.2.3 | Pass | Pass | |
| Group 3 | T-2.3.1 | Not Pass | Pass |
| T-2.3.2 | Not Pass | Pass | |
| T-2.3.3 | Pass | Pass | |
| T-2.3.4 | Pass | Pass | |
| T-2.3.5 | Not Pass | Pass | |
| T-2.3.6 | Pass | Pass | |
| Group 4 | T-2.4.1 | Not Pass | Pass |