# Electronic – I2C: 3.3V and 5V devices without level-shifting on 3.3V-bus

i2clevel-shiftingvoltage

do I really need a level-shifter if I use 5V-powered devices on an I2C-bus that has pull-ups to 3.3V?
In my understanding the devices will only pull the lines (SDA, SCL) low (to ground) and never drive their supply-voltage to the bus. So I don't see a reason for a level-shifter as long as all devices detect the voltage from the pull-ups (3.3V) as logical high. That should be the case with devices using 5V as supply.

In my case I have an IC whose inputs are not 5V-tolerant as master and I could power my slaves with 3.3V but using 5V is easier in my circuit and allows higher (internal) clock-rates for the slaves.

According to version 4 of the \$\mathrm{I^2C}\$ spec,

"Due to the variety of different technology devices (CMOS, NMOS, bipolar) that can be connected to the I2C-bus, the levels of the logical ‘0’ (LOW) and ‘1’ (HIGH) are not fixed and depend on the associated level of VDD. Input reference levels are set as 30 % and 70 % of VDD; VIL is 0.3VDD and VIH is 0.7VDD. See Figure 38, timing diagram. Some legacy device input levels were fixed at VIL = 1.5 V and VIH = 3.0 V, but all new devices require this 30 %/70 % specification. See Section 6 for electrical specifications." (page 9)

Deeper in the spec, you'll see that this \$0.7 \times V_{DD}\$ is the minimum logic high voltage:

\$0.7 \times 5 V = 3.5 V\$
\$0.3 \times 5 V = 1.5 V\$
To me, the 3.3 V pull-up looks marginal, especially if any of your 5V devices use the 'new' standard of \$0.7 \times V_{DD}\$ for logic HIGH.