41.6.3.8 Waveform Extension

The following figure illustrates the schematic diagram of actions of the four optional units that follow the recoverable fault stage on a port pin pair: Output Matrix (OTMX), Dead-Time Insertion (DTI), SWAP and Pattern Generation. The DTI and SWAP units can be seen as four port pair slices:
  • Slice 0 DTI0/SWAP0 acting on port pins (WO[0], WO[WO_NUM/2 +0])
  • Slice 1 DTI1/SWAP1 acting on port pins (WO[1], WO[WO_NUM/2 +1])
And in general:
  • Slice n DTIx/SWAPx acting on port pins (WO[x], WO[WO_NUM/2 +x])
Figure 41-34. Waveform Extension Stage Details

The OTMX unit distributes compare channels according to the selectable configurations in the following table.

Table 41-6. Output Matrix Channel Pin Routing Configuration
WEXCTRL.OTMXOTMX[5]OTMX[4]OTMX[3]OTMX[2]OTMX[1]OTMX[0]
0x0CC5CC4CC3CC2CC1CC0
0x1CC2CC1CC0CC2CC1CC0
0x2CC0CC0CC0CC0CC0CC0
0x3CC1CC1CC1CC1CC1CC0
  • Configuration 0x0 is the default configuration. The channel location is the default one and channels are distributed on outputs modulo the number of channels. Channel 0 is routed to the Output matrix output OTMX[0] and Channel 1 to OTMX[1]. If there are more outputs than channels, channel 0 is duplicated to the Output matrix output OTMX[CC_NUM], channel 1 to OTMX[CC_NUM+1] and so on.
  • Configuration 0x1 distributes the channels on output modulo half the number of channels. This assigns twice the number of output locations to the lower channels than the default configuration. This can be used, for example, to control the four transistors of a full bridge using only two compare channels.

    Using pattern generation, some of these four outputs can be overwritten by a constant level, enabling the flexible drive of a full bridge in all quadrant configurations.

  • Configuration 0x2 distributes compare channel 0 (CC0) to all port pins. With pattern generation, this configuration can control a stepper motor.
  • Configuration 0x3 distributes the compare channel CC0 to the first output, and the channel CC1 to all other outputs. Together with pattern generation and the fault extension, this configuration can control up to seven LED strings with a boost stage.

The following table defines an example showing four compare channels on four outputs.

Table 41-7. Four Compare Channels on Four Outputs
WEXCTRL.OTMXOTMX[3]OTMX[2]OTMX[1]OTMX[0]
0x0CC3CC2CC1CC0
0x1CC1CC0CC1CC0
0x2CC0CC0CC0CC0
0x3CC1CC1CC1CC0

The DTI unit generates OFF time with the non-inverted low side (LS) and inverted high side (HS) of the wave generator output forced at low level. This OFF time is called dead time. Dead-time insertion ensures that the LS and HS will never switch simultaneously.

The DTI stage consists of four equal dead-time insertion generators; one for each of the first four compare channels. The following figure illustrates the block diagram of one DTI generator. The four channels have a common register that controls the dead time, which is independent of high side and low side setting.

Figure 41-35. Dead-Time Generator Block Diagram

As illustrated in the following figure, the 8-bit dead-time counter is decremented by one for each peripheral clock cycle until it reaches zero. A non-zero counter value will force both the low side and high side outputs into their OFF state. When the Output Matrix (OTMX) output changes, the dead-time counter is reloaded according to the edge of the input. When the output changes from low to high (positive edge), it initiates a counter reload of the DTLS register. When the output changes from high to low (negative edge), it reloads the DTHS register.

Figure 41-36. Dead-Time Generator Timing Diagram

The pattern generator unit produces a synchronized bit pattern across the port pins it is connected to. The pattern generation features are primarily intended for handling the commutation sequence in Brushless DC motors (BLDC), stepper motors and full bridge control as illustrated in the following figure.

Figure 41-37. Pattern Generator Block Diagram

As with other double-buffered timer/counter registers, the register update is synchronized to the UPDATE condition set by the timer/counter waveform generation operation. If synchronization is not required by the application, the software can simply access the PATT.PGE, PATT.PGV bits registers directly.