SH1106 — 128x64 Dot Matrix OLED / PLED Display Driver

Overview

The SH1106 is a single-chip CMOS OLED/PLED driver manufactured by Sino Wealth Microelectronic. It is designed for driving 132x64 dot-matrix organic LED displays and is standard on larger 1.3-inch 128x64 monochrome OLED display modules.

While visually similar to 0.96-inch OLED displays driven by the SSD1306, the SH1106 chip contains an internal 132x64 GRAM frame buffer (4 columns wider than 128 pixels). Consequently, software drivers must shift display columns by 2 pixels ( $Column = Column + 2$ ) to center a 128x64 image frame on screen.

Quick reference


Module VCC	3.3 V to 5.0 V DC (onboard LDO + charge pump)
Chip VDD	1.65 V to 3.5 V DC
Display Resolution	128 x 64 pixels (driven from 132 x 64 internal RAM)
Diagonal Screen Size	Typically 1.3 inches
Communication interfaces	I2C (address `0x3C` or `0x3D`, up to 400 kHz), 4-wire SPI
Page Addressing	Page addressing mode (8 pages of 132 x 8 bits)
Contrast Control	256-level brightness contrast steps

Pinout

Standard 4-Pin I2C 1.3-inch OLED Module Header

Pin	Name	Type	Description
1	`GND`	Power	Ground (0 V)
2	`VCC`	Power	Supply voltage (+3.3 V to +5.0 V DC)
3	`SCL`	Digital Input	I2C Serial Clock line
4	`SDA`	Digital I/O	I2C Serial Data line

7-Pin SPI 1.3-inch OLED Module Header

Pin	Name	Type	Description
1	`GND`	Power	Ground (0 V)
2	`VCC`	Power	Supply voltage (+3.3 V to +5.0 V DC)
3	`D0` / `SCLK`	Digital Input	SPI Clock input line
4	`D1` / `MOSI`	Digital Input	SPI Master Output Data line
5	`RES` / `RST`	Digital Input	Hardware Reset line (Active-LOW)
6	`DC` / `A0`	Digital Input	Data / Command control pin (`LOW` = Command, `HIGH` = Data)
7	`CS`	Digital Input	SPI Chip Select (Active-LOW)

Specifications

Parameter	Symbol	Min	Typ	Max	Unit	Conditions
Supply Voltage (Module)	$V_{CC}$	3.3	5.0	5.5	V	DC
Logic Voltage High	$V_{IH}$	$0.8 V_{DD}$	—	$V_{DD}$	V	`SCL`, `SDA`
Logic Voltage Low	$V_{IL}$	0	—	$0.2 V_{DD}$	V	`SCL`, `SDA`
Operating Supply Current	$I_{CC}$	—	15	25	mA	100% pixels ON
Sleep Current	$I_{SLEEP}$	—	5	10	µA	Display OFF (`0xAE`)
GRAM Size	$RAM$	—	$132 \times 64$	—	bits	8 Pages $\times$ 132 Columns

SH1106 vs SSD1306 Differences

Feature	SSD1306 (0.96-inch typical)	SH1106 (1.3-inch typical)
Internal RAM Size	$128 \times 64$ bits	$132 \times 64$ bits
Column Offset	Direct 0-to-127 column mapping	Requires +2 column offset ( $Column + 2$ )
Addressing Modes	Page, Horizontal, Vertical addressing	Page Addressing Mode only
Charge Pump Command	`0x8D` (Enable Charge Pump)	`0x8D` / `0xAD` (Built-in charge pump)

Warning

Column Shift Distortion in Software: If an SH1106 display is driven using standard SSD1306 software code, the image will appear shifted 2 pixels to the right with 2 pixels of static noise/garbled lines on the left edge. Always select SH1106 in display driver libraries (such as U8g2 or Adafruit_SH1106).

Wiring

SH1106 I2C Module Pin	→	Microcontroller (Arduino Uno / ESP32)
`GND`		`GND`
`VCC`		`5V` (or `3.3V`)
`SCL`		`SCL` (A5 on Uno, GPIO22 on ESP32)
`SDA`		`SDA` (A4 on Uno, GPIO21 on ESP32)

Common mistakes

Using SSD1306 display drivers: SSD1306 drivers lack page-by-page column offset handling ( $Column + 2$ ), resulting in shifted/garbled images.
Attempting to use Horizontal / Vertical Addressing modes: The SH1106 only supports Page Addressing mode (0xB0 to 0xB7).
Forgetting I2C slave address: Most SH1106 1.3-inch displays default to address 0x3C, but some boards use 0x3D.

Notes

Low power consumption allows direct battery operation without backlight power penalty.

Interface	I2C, 4-Wire SPI, 3-Wire SPI
Supply	1.65–3.5 V
Package	COG (Chip-On-Glass) / 1.3-inch OLED Module