Silicon Labs CP210x Bridge Family (7 parts in our catalog)
The Silicon Labs CP210x family comprises high-performance USB-to-UART bridge controllers designed to provide a simplified solution for updating RS-232/RS-485 designs to USB. These highly integrated ICs eliminate the need for external crystals, EEPROMs, or complex firmware development by providing a complete plug-and-play interface. Known for their small form factors and robust driver support across Windows, macOS, and Linux, the CP210x series is a standard choice for providing reliable serial communication in resource-constrained embedded systems.
Key Features
- Integrated transceiver and internal clock recovery eliminate external components.
- Up to 3 Mbps baud rate with programmable hardware flow control.
- Integrated 512-byte EEPROM or internal ROM for device customization.
- Small QFN packages ranging from 3x3 mm for space-constrained designs.
- Low power consumption with integrated voltage regulator and suspend pins.
Sub-families
| Sub-family | Variants | Core | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTHER | |||
| CP2102N | 7 | — | |
Typical Use Cases
Embedded engineers frequently deploy the CP210x family in industrial control systems, medical instrumentation, and consumer electronics where a physical USB interface is required for data logging or field diagnostics. In MCU-based designs, these bridges serve as the primary debug port or bootloader interface, allowing for seamless firmware updates over USB without requiring native USB support on the target microcontroller. They are also widely used in point-of-sale terminals, handheld scanners, and cellular modems to bridge legacy asynchronous serial protocols to modern host platforms. The CP2102N variant is particularly popular in high-volume IoT applications due to its reduced BOM cost and enhanced data throughput capabilities. Additionally, the integrated GPIO pins and clock output functionality allow for basic peripheral control and synchronization without adding further complexity to the system architecture.
Popular Variants
Top variants from across the family, with specs that differentiate them.
| Part Number | Sub-family | Package | Stock |
|---|---|---|---|
| CP2102N-A02-GQFN20R | CP2102N | WFQFN-20 | 8,831 |
| CP2102N-A02-GQFN24R | CP2102N | VFQFN-24 | 11,096 |
| CP2102N-A02-GQFN20 | CP2102N | WFQFN-20 | 29,060 |
| CP2102N-A02-GQFN24 | CP2102N | VFQFN-24 | 15,235 |
