High-Speed I2C (HS-Mode)

High-speed mode (Hs-mode) devices offer a quantum  leap in I2C-bus transfer speeds. Hs-mode devices can  transfer information at bit rates of up to 3.4 Mbit/s, yet they remain fully downward compatible with Fast- or Standard-mode (F/S-mode) devices for bi-directional communication in a mixed-speed bus system. With the exception that arbitration and clock synchronization is not performed during the Hs-mode transfer, the same serial bus protocol and data format is maintained as with the F/S-mode system. Depending on the application, new devices may have a Fast or Hs-mode I2C-bus interface, although Hs-mode devices are preferred as they can be designed-in to a greater number of applications.

High speed transfer

To achieve a bit transfer of up to 3.4 Mbit/s the following improvements have been made to the regular I 2 C-bus specification:

The figure below shows the physical I 2 C-bus configuration in a system with only Hs-mode devices. Pins SDA and SCL on the master devices are only used in mixed-speed bus systems and are not connected in an Hs-mode only system. In such cases, these pins can be used for other functions.

High speed bus diagram

Optional series resistors Rs protect the I/O stages of the I2C-bus devices from high-voltage spikes on the bus lines and minimize ringing and interference. Pull-up resistors Rp maintain the SDAH and SCLH lines at a HIGH level when the bus is free and ensure the signals are pulled up from a LOW to a HIGH level within the required rise time. For higher capacitive bus-line loads (>100 pF), the resistor Rp can be replaced by external current source pull-ups to meet the rise time requirements. Unless proceeded by an acknowledge bit, the rise time of the SCLH clock pulses in Hs-mode transfers is shortened by the internal current-source pull-up circuit MCS of the active master.