TWI — I2C compatible two-wire interface

The TWI master is compatible with I2C operating at 100 kHz and 400 kHz.

Figure 1. TWI master's main features
Two-wire interface (TWI) main features

Functional description

This TWI master is not compatible with CBUS. The TWI transmitter and receiver are single buffered.

See TWI master's main features.

A TWI setup with one master and three slaves is shown in the following figure. This TWI master is only able to operate as the only master on the TWI bus.

Figure 2. A typical TWI setup with one master and three slaves
A typical TWI setup with one master and three slaves

This TWI master supports clock stretching performed by the slaves. The TWI master is started by triggering the STARTTX or STARTRX tasks, and stopped by triggering the STOP task.

If a NACK is clocked in from the slave, the TWI master will generate an ERROR event.

Master mode pin configuration

The different signals SCL and SDA associated with the TWI master are mapped to physical pins according to the configuration specified in the PSEL.SCL and PSEL.SDA registers respectively.

If the CONNECT field of a PSEL.xxx register is set to Disconnected, the associated TWI signal is not connected to any physical pin. The PSEL.SCL and PSEL.SDA registers and their configurations are only used as long as the TWI master is enabled, and retained only as long as the device is in ON mode. PSEL.SCL and PSEL.SDA must only be configured when TWI is disabled.

To secure correct signal levels on the pins used by the TWI master when the system is in OFF mode, and when the TWI master is disabled, these pins must be configured in the GPIO peripheral as described in GPIO configuration.

Only one peripheral can be assigned to drive a particular GPIO pin at a time, failing to do so may result in unpredictable behavior.

Table 1. GPIO configuration
TWI master signalTWI master pinDirectionDrive strengthOutput value
SCLAs specified in PSEL.SCLInputS0D1Not applicable
SDAAs specified in PSEL.SDAInputS0D1Not applicable

Shared resources

TWI shares registers and other resources with other peripherals that have the same ID as TWI.

Therefore, you must disable all peripherals that have the same ID as TWI before TWI can be configured and used. Disabling a peripheral that has the same ID as TWI will not reset any of the registers that are shared with TWI. It is therefore important to configure all relevant TWI registers explicitly to secure that it operates correctly.

The Instantiation table in Instantiation shows which peripherals have the same ID as TWI.

Master write sequence

A TWI master write sequence is started by triggering the STARTTX task. After the STARTTX task has been triggered, the TWI master will generate a start condition on the TWI bus, followed by clocking out the address and the READ/WRITE bit set to 0 (WRITE=0, READ=1).

The address must match the address of the slave device that the master wants to write to. The READ/WRITE bit is followed by an ACK/NACK bit (ACK=0 or NACK=1) generated by the slave.

After receiving the ACK bit, the TWI master will clock out the data bytes that are written to the TXD register. Each byte clocked out from the master will be followed by an ACK/NACK bit clocked in from the slave. A TXDSENT event will be generated each time the TWI master has clocked out a TXD byte, and the associated ACK/NACK bit has been clocked in from the slave.

The TWI master transmitter is single buffered. A second byte can only be written to the TXD register after the previous byte has been clocked out and the ACK/NACK bit clocked in, that is, after the TXDSENT event has been generated.

If the CPU is prevented from writing to TXD when the TWI master is ready to clock out a byte, the TWI master will stretch the clock until the CPU has written a byte to the TXD register.

A typical TWI master write sequence is illustrated in The TWI master writing data to a slave. Occurrence 3 in the figure illustrates delayed processing of the TXDSENT event associated with TXD byte 1. In this scenario the TWI master will stretch the clock to prevent writing erroneous data to the slave.

Figure 3. The TWI master writing data to a slave
The TWI master writing data to a slave

The TWI master write sequence is stopped when the STOP task is triggered, causing the TWI master to generate a stop condition on the TWI bus.

Master read sequence

A TWI master read sequence is started by triggering the STARTRX task. After the STARTRX task has been triggered, the TWI master will generate a start condition on the TWI bus, followed by clocking out the address and the READ/WRITE bit set to 1 (WRITE = 0, READ = 1).

The address must match the address of the slave device that the master wants to read from. The READ/WRITE bit is followed by an ACK/NACK bit (ACK=0 or NACK = 1) generated by the slave.

After having sent the ACK bit, the TWI slave will send data to the master using the clock generated by the master.

The TWI master will generate a RXDRDY event every time a new byte is received in the RXD register.

After receiving a byte, the TWI master will delay sending the ACK/NACK bit by stretching the clock until the CPU has extracted the received byte, by reading the RXD register.

The TWI master read sequence is stopped by triggering the STOP task. This task must be triggered before the last byte is extracted from RXD to ensure that the TWI master sends a NACK back to the slave before generating the stop condition.

A typical TWI master read sequence is illustrated in The TWI master reading data from a slave. Occurrence 3 in this figure illustrates delayed processing of the RXDRDY event associated with RXD byte B. In this scenario the TWI master will stretch the clock to prevent the slave from overwriting the contents of the RXD register.

Figure 4. The TWI master reading data from a slave
TWI master reading data from a slave

Master repeated start sequence

A typical repeated start sequence is one in which the TWI master writes one byte to the slave followed by reading M bytes from the slave. Any combination and number of transmit and receive sequences can be combined in this fashion. Only one shortcut to STOP can be enabled at any given time.

The following figure shows a repeated start sequence where the TWI master writes one byte, followed by reading M bytes from the slave without performing a stop in-between.

Figure 5. Repeated start sequence illustration
Repeated start sequence illustration

To generate a repeated start after a read sequence, a second start task, STARTRX or STARTTX, must be triggered instead of the STOP task. This start task must be triggered before the last byte is extracted from RXD to ensure that the TWI master sends a NACK back to the slave before generating the repeated start condition.

Low power

When putting the system in low power and the peripheral is not needed, lowest possible power consumption is achieved by stopping, and then disabling the peripheral.

The STOP task is not always needed, like when the peripheral is already stopped. If the STOP task is sent, the software shall wait until the STOPPED event was received as a response before disabling the peripheral through the ENABLE register.

Registers

Table 2. Instances
Base addressPeripheralInstanceDescriptionConfiguration
0x40003000TWITWI0

Two-wire interface master

 

Deprecated

Table 3. Register overview
RegisterOffsetDescription
TASKS_STARTRX0x000

Start TWI receive sequence

 
TASKS_STARTTX0x008

Start TWI transmit sequence

 
TASKS_STOP0x014

Stop TWI transaction

 
TASKS_SUSPEND0x01C

Suspend TWI transaction

 
TASKS_RESUME0x020

Resume TWI transaction

 
EVENTS_STOPPED0x104

TWI stopped

 
EVENTS_RXDREADY0x108

TWI RXD byte received

 
EVENTS_TXDSENT0x11C

TWI TXD byte sent

 
EVENTS_ERROR0x124

TWI error

 
EVENTS_BB0x138

TWI byte boundary, generated before each byte that is sent or received

 
EVENTS_SUSPENDED0x148

TWI entered the suspended state

 
SHORTS0x200

Shortcuts between local events and tasks

 
INTENSET0x304

Enable interrupt

 
INTENCLR0x308

Disable interrupt

 
ERRORSRC0x4C4

Error source

 
ENABLE0x500

Enable TWI

 
PSEL.SCL0x508

Pin select for SCL

 
PSEL.SDA0x50C

Pin select for SDA

 
RXD0x518

RXD register

 
TXD0x51C

TXD register

 
FREQUENCY0x524

TWI frequency. Accuracy depends on the HFCLK source selected.

 
ADDRESS0x588

Address used in the TWI transfer

 

TASKS_STARTRX

Address offset: 0x000

Start TWI receive sequence

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
ID                               A
Reset 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
AW

TASKS_STARTRX

  

Start TWI receive sequence

   

Trigger

1

Trigger task

TASKS_STARTTX

Address offset: 0x008

Start TWI transmit sequence

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
ID                               A
Reset 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
AW

TASKS_STARTTX

  

Start TWI transmit sequence

   

Trigger

1

Trigger task

TASKS_STOP

Address offset: 0x014

Stop TWI transaction

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
ID                               A
Reset 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
AW

TASKS_STOP

  

Stop TWI transaction

   

Trigger

1

Trigger task

TASKS_SUSPEND

Address offset: 0x01C

Suspend TWI transaction

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
ID                               A
Reset 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
AW

TASKS_SUSPEND

  

Suspend TWI transaction

   

Trigger

1

Trigger task

TASKS_RESUME

Address offset: 0x020

Resume TWI transaction

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
ID                               A
Reset 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
AW

TASKS_RESUME

  

Resume TWI transaction

   

Trigger

1

Trigger task

EVENTS_STOPPED

Address offset: 0x104

TWI stopped

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
ID                               A
Reset 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
ARW

EVENTS_STOPPED

  

TWI stopped

   

NotGenerated

0

Event not generated

   

Generated

1

Event generated

EVENTS_RXDREADY

Address offset: 0x108

TWI RXD byte received

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
ID                               A
Reset 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
ARW

EVENTS_RXDREADY

  

TWI RXD byte received

   

NotGenerated

0

Event not generated

   

Generated

1

Event generated

EVENTS_TXDSENT

Address offset: 0x11C

TWI TXD byte sent

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
ID                               A
Reset 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
ARW

EVENTS_TXDSENT

  

TWI TXD byte sent

   

NotGenerated

0

Event not generated

   

Generated

1

Event generated

EVENTS_ERROR

Address offset: 0x124

TWI error

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
ID                               A
Reset 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
ARW

EVENTS_ERROR

  

TWI error

   

NotGenerated

0

Event not generated

   

Generated

1

Event generated

EVENTS_BB

Address offset: 0x138

TWI byte boundary, generated before each byte that is sent or received

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
ID                               A
Reset 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
ARW

EVENTS_BB

  

TWI byte boundary, generated before each byte that is sent or received

   

NotGenerated

0

Event not generated

   

Generated

1

Event generated

EVENTS_SUSPENDED

Address offset: 0x148

TWI entered the suspended state

Generated just after ACK bit has been transferred in a read transaction, and only if SUSPEND has been requested earlier.

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
ID                               A
Reset 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
ARW

EVENTS_SUSPENDED

  

TWI entered the suspended state

Generated just after ACK bit has been transferred in a read transaction, and only if SUSPEND has been requested earlier.

   

NotGenerated

0

Event not generated

   

Generated

1

Event generated

SHORTS

Address offset: 0x200

Shortcuts between local events and tasks

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
ID                              BA
Reset 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
ARW

BB_SUSPEND

  

Shortcut between event BB and task SUSPEND

   

Disabled

0

Disable shortcut

   

Enabled

1

Enable shortcut

BRW

BB_STOP

  

Shortcut between event BB and task STOP

   

Disabled

0

Disable shortcut

   

Enabled

1

Enable shortcut

INTENSET

Address offset: 0x304

Enable interrupt

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
ID             F   E    D C    BA 
Reset 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
ARW

STOPPED

  

Write '1' to enable interrupt for event STOPPED

   

Set

1

Enable

   

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

   

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

BRW

RXDREADY

  

Write '1' to enable interrupt for event RXDREADY

   

Set

1

Enable

   

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

   

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

CRW

TXDSENT

  

Write '1' to enable interrupt for event TXDSENT

   

Set

1

Enable

   

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

   

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

DRW

ERROR

  

Write '1' to enable interrupt for event ERROR

   

Set

1

Enable

   

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

   

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

ERW

BB

  

Write '1' to enable interrupt for event BB

   

Set

1

Enable

   

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

   

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

FRW

SUSPENDED

  

Write '1' to enable interrupt for event SUSPENDED

Generated just after ACK bit has been transferred in a read transaction, and only if SUSPEND has been requested earlier.

   

Set

1

Enable

   

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

   

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

INTENCLR

Address offset: 0x308

Disable interrupt

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
ID             F   E    D C    BA 
Reset 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
ARW

STOPPED

  

Write '1' to disable interrupt for event STOPPED

   

Clear

1

Disable

   

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

   

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

BRW

RXDREADY

  

Write '1' to disable interrupt for event RXDREADY

   

Clear

1

Disable

   

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

   

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

CRW

TXDSENT

  

Write '1' to disable interrupt for event TXDSENT

   

Clear

1

Disable

   

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

   

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

DRW

ERROR

  

Write '1' to disable interrupt for event ERROR

   

Clear

1

Disable

   

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

   

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

ERW

BB

  

Write '1' to disable interrupt for event BB

   

Clear

1

Disable

   

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

   

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

FRW

SUSPENDED

  

Write '1' to disable interrupt for event SUSPENDED

Generated just after ACK bit has been transferred in a read transaction, and only if SUSPEND has been requested earlier.

   

Clear

1

Disable

   

Disabled

0

Read: Disabled

   

Enabled

1

Read: Enabled

ERRORSRC

Address offset: 0x4C4

Error source

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
ID                             CBA
Reset 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
ARW

OVERRUN

  

Overrun error

A new byte was received before previous byte got read by software from the RXD register. (Previous data is lost)

   

NotPresent

0

Read: no overrun occured

   

Present

1

Read: overrun occured

BRW

ANACK

  

NACK received after sending the address (write '1' to clear)

   

NotPresent

0

Read: error not present

   

Present

1

Read: error present

CRW

DNACK

  

NACK received after sending a data byte (write '1' to clear)

   

NotPresent

0

Read: error not present

   

Present

1

Read: error present

ENABLE

Address offset: 0x500

Enable TWI

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
ID                            AAAA
Reset 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
ARW

ENABLE

  

Enable or disable TWI

   

Disabled

0

Disable TWI

   

Enabled

5

Enable TWI

PSEL.SCL

Address offset: 0x508

Pin select for SCL

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
IDC                         AAAAA
Reset 0xFFFFFFFF11111111111111111111111111111111
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
ARW

PIN

 

[0..31]

Pin number

CRW

CONNECT

  

Connection

   

Disconnected

1

Disconnect

   

Connected

0

Connect

PSEL.SDA

Address offset: 0x50C

Pin select for SDA

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
IDC                         AAAAA
Reset 0xFFFFFFFF11111111111111111111111111111111
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
ARW

PIN

 

[0..31]

Pin number

CRW

CONNECT

  

Connection

   

Disconnected

1

Disconnect

   

Connected

0

Connect

RXD

Address offset: 0x518

RXD register

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
ID                        AAAAAAAA
Reset 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
AR

RXD

  

RXD register

TXD

Address offset: 0x51C

TXD register

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
ID                        AAAAAAAA
Reset 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
ARW

TXD

  

TXD register

FREQUENCY

Address offset: 0x524

TWI frequency. Accuracy depends on the HFCLK source selected.

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
IDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Reset 0x0400000000000100000000000000000000000000
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
ARW

FREQUENCY

  

TWI master clock frequency

   

K100

0x01980000

100 kbps

   

K250

0x04000000

250 kbps

   

K400

0x06680000

400 kbps (actual rate 410.256 kbps)

ADDRESS

Address offset: 0x588

Address used in the TWI transfer

Bit number313029282726252423222120191817161514131211109876543210
ID                         AAAAAAA
Reset 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
IDAccessFieldValue IDValueDescription
ARW

ADDRESS

  

Address used in the TWI transfer

Electrical specification

TWI interface electrical specifications

SymbolDescriptionMin.Typ.Max.Units
fTWI,SCL

Bit rates for TWI1

100400kbps
tTWI,START

Time from STARTRX/STARTTX task to transmission started

1.5µs

Two Wire Interface (TWI) timing specifications

SymbolDescriptionMin.Typ.Max.Units
tTWI,SU_DAT

Data setup time before positive edge on SCL – all modes

300ns
tTWI,HD_DAT

Data hold time after negative edge on SCL – all modes

500ns
tTWI,HD_STA,100kbps

TWI master hold time for START and repeated START condition, 100 kbps

10000ns
tTWI,HD_STA,250kbps

TWI master hold time for START and repeated START condition, 250kbps

4000ns
tTWI,HD_STA,400kbps

TWI master hold time for START and repeated START condition, 400 kbps

2500ns
tTWI,SU_STO,100kbps

TWI master setup time from SCL high to STOP condition, 100 kbps

5000ns
tTWI,SU_STO,250kbps

TWI master setup time from SCL high to STOP condition, 250 kbps

2000ns
tTWI,SU_STO,400kbps

TWI master setup time from SCL high to STOP condition, 400 kbps

1250ns
tTWI,BUF,100kbps

TWI master bus free time between STOP and START conditions, 100 kbps

5800ns
tTWI,BUF,250kbps

TWI master bus free time between STOP and START conditions, 250 kbps

2700ns
tTWI,BUF,400kbps

TWI master bus free time between STOP and START conditions, 400 kbps

2100ns
Figure 6. TWI timing diagram, 1 byte transaction
TWI timing diagram, 1 byte transaction

1 High bit rates or stronger pull-ups may require GPIOs to be set as High Drive, see GPIO chapter for more details.