W5500
W5500 - Hardwired TCP/IP Ethernet Controller SPI | WIZnet
The WIZnet W5500 is a hardwired TCP/IP embedded Ethernet controller that integrates the TCP/IP stack, 10/100 Ethernet MAC, and PHY in a single chip, communicating to a host MCU over an SPI bus at up to 80 MHz. It provides 8 simultaneous sockets with 32 KB of internal TX/RX buffer memory and is housed in a 48-pin LQFP (7x7 mm) package.
An Ethernet controller (also called a network controller or NIC controller) is a semiconductor device that offloads the low-level networking functions - framing, MAC addressing, PHY transceiver signaling, and protocol handling - from the host microcontroller. Hardwired TCP/IP controllers go further by implementing the TCP, UDP, IPv4, ICMP, PPPoE, ARP, and IGMP protocols in dedicated silicon rather than firmware. Within the broader taxonomy, the W5500 sits at: Ethernet controller -> network controller -> communication IC -> semiconductor. Compared to a microcontroller running an LWIP software stack, a hardwired controller delivers deterministic latency, low MCU overhead, and a smaller code footprint, but lacks the flexibility of full-protocol software stacks.
Key features include 10/100 Base-TX auto-negotiation, full/half-duplex operation, 8 independent socket buffers, a wake-on-LAN (WoL) pin for remote wake scenarios, and integrated 802.3az energy-efficient Ethernet support. The SPI interface runs from 0 to 80 MHz in variable-length mode and supports Mode 0 / Mode 3, allowing direct connection to most ARM Cortex-M, ESP32, AVR, and PIC hosts without glue logic.
The W5500's architecture is built around a hardwired protocol engine and dedicated socket memory blocks. Each of the 8 sockets has a Tx buffer and Rx buffer routed through an internal DMA-like engine, so the host MCU does not have to manage TCP state machines. The embedded PHY supports HP Auto-MDIX, eliminating the need for crossover cables. Compared to the legacy W5100 (80-pin), the W5500 reduces pin count to 48 and adds SPI efficiency improvements, while W5100S retains the 80-pin footprint for drop-in W5100 upgrades.
Typical applications include IoT sensor nodes, industrial Ethernet PLCs, smart-home gateways, IP-camera control planes, and Arduino/MCU Ethernet shields. The 32 KB buffer is sufficient for most MQTT/CoAP/HTTP payloads without external memory, and the SPI bus allows the part to be wired directly to microcontrollers that lack integrated Ethernet MAC/PHY.
Design consideration: because the W5500 integrates the PHY, the board must route the MDI differential signals as a 100-ohm differential pair and provide a 1:1 center-tap magnetics module. Decouple both 3.3 V analog and digital rails at the chip pins with 0.1 uF and 10 uF ceramics; share ground with the host MCU through a single stitch.
This page synthesizes distributor pricing, same-family drop-in alternatives, and practical hardware-design notes not consolidated in the manufacturer datasheet.
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