I am using the PWM output of a PIC 16F1519 to drive a simple voltage inverter at 20 KHz. For simulation, I added a 220 Ω resistor in series with the 10µ input capacitor. Of course, the max allowed current from any pin is 25 mA. Maximum current in the simulation is about 22 mA for a few mS. I would like to get rid of the resistor to speed start-up. But, I cannot find what the actual output impedance for the pins is.

This link (http://www.microchip.com/forums/m479138.aspx) suggests that it is several hundred ohms, which would mean the pin could be shorted without damage to the chip.

Does anyone know the output impedance? Can the pins actually be shorted without damage?

John

 

The 25 mA figure is not the one you should focus on. Look for Vol(maximum) and Voh(minimum). Those voltages and the corresponding currents will give a better approximation to the DC resistance of the NMOS and PMOS channels of the output stage. Since these numbers are not characterized, I would not depend on them because any heat must be dissipated on very small structures and the leadframe. Better to have an external resistor to help out even if it must be a compromise. Better yet an external device or buffer could be chosen to isolate the PIC from the responsibility.

 

On further reading spurred by you (Papabravo), I collected some typical comments. The subject had been discussed quite a bit online. One person commented that the transistor-level description of the output stages is typically not available, and that the assumption is is P-channel sourcing and an N-channel sinking may or may not be valid. Nevertheless, that is the model people use.

http://electronics.stackexchange.co...is-the-typical-on-resistance-of-an-mcu-output

Response from Microchip support (previously referenced above):

It is not specified, but I would suggest treating it as a few hundred ohms or more. Normally when you use a low pass filter, a buffer (op-amp) is required to prevent excessive loading (used after the filter).

http://www.basicmicro.com/downloads/docs/Smith_halfChp3.pdf
The author (Smith) considers output resistance to be 85 ohms when calculating the current limiting resistor for an LED. That Smith may be the same as one of the authors in the following Google Book, which also uses the 85-ohm figure.
http://books.google.com/books?id=s8DBXs-jIRQC&pg=PA496&lpg=PA496&dq=pic maximum output current&source=bl&ots=kp-z5kA8Zq&sig=QQAC0EyON-iVb1Nlw1U5W2htVrY&hl=en&sa=X&ei=6l5VVIjhMYmfyQSRwYGoCg&ved=0CF8Q6AEwCw#v=onepage&q=pic maximum output current&f=false

Finally, in another Microchip thread (http://www.microchip.com/forums/m535266.aspx ):

Some PIC datasheets give typical pin current/voltage characteristic graphs. All of them give at least a single point guarantee like your PIC16F628 0.6v @ 8.5mA sink.
You can calculate RDSon from this single point (70 ohms in this case) and the chip will typically be about twice as good (35 ohms). Typically the N channel MOSFETs are twice as good (half RDSon) as the the P channel MOSFETs.

For the 16F1519, VOH = Vdd- 0.7 with IOH = 3.5 mA/5V, which calculates to 200 Ω sourcing and a similar calculation for VOL gives 75 Ω sinking.

As a test, I measured the Pk-Pk voltage of the 20 KHz square wave produced by the PWM module across a series of resistors. The results were not as tight as I would have liked them. Here they are in rough form:

Rs is the calculated series internal resistance of the source (i.e., the output pin).

The mean was 98 Ω with a pretty wide variation. From all of this, I feel that the current limiting resistor can be reduced to 120 Ω with minimal risk.

As to the other question of "why", I am currently using a MAX851 to generate the negative bias for a GLCD. It is a nice chip ($4.35 at DigiKay). It requires 4 external capacitors, a pull-up resistor for enable/shutdown, plus the chip itself for a total of 6 parts. The simple bias generator has just 2 diodes and 2 capacitors. No additional parts are needed for enable/shutdown, and layout is simplified. It was also fun to see how it was done.

Regards, John

 

Interesting research, data, and illuminating analysis.