AM623: Understanding PAD in DSIS

Farzaneh Faridi

Part Number: AM623

Dear members,

I would like to better understand the meaning of “PAD” as used in the DSIS / pin descriptions of TI devices (specifically during boot or reset).

Could someone please explain what PAD implies electrically, and what should be considered during the schematic and PCB design phase when a pin is marked as PAD (e.g., pull‑up/down requirements, whether it can be left floating, and how it is sampled)?

Any clarification or references would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,
Farzaneh

3 months ago

+1 Stanislav Stilyanov 3 months ago

TI__Mastermind 25090 points

Hello Farzaneh,

The Pad is essentially a pin on the silicon chip itself. It may be routed through wires to different Balls on different packages as seen in the first 2 columns.

If used in conjunction with ball location number, then it could be said pad = ball.

The remarkable thing in DSIS column is that GPIOs, even if not selected by setting MUXMODE = 7, they can "see" what's the value of the pad/ball.

For example in UART_RXD is selected and used, then GPIO can monitor its value "from the pad", generate interrupts, for debug, or sometimes in application.