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Bus repeaters improve signal integrity

Edited by the Electronicstalk editorial team Jan 30, 2002

Fairchild Semiconductor has expanded its LVDS interface IC portfolio with four new LVDS repeaters.

Fairchild Semiconductor has expanded its LVDS interface IC portfolio with four new LVDS repeaters.

The newest interface products include 1:1, 2:2, 4:4 and 8:8 LVDS repeaters, which are designed to provide signal-level translation and to buffer signals travelling across backplane or cable in multiple communications applications, including SONET/SDH, basestations, and multiple routing applications.

In the past, FPGA and ASIC devices required longer stub lengths between the device and the connector due to their high pin count and package orientation.

This contributed to more complex impedance environments resulting in poor signal integrity.

Designers can now place Fairchild's LVDS repeaters at a card's edge, successfully removing the effects of long stub traces.

"This enables better signal integrity across backplane and cable environments", says Matt Johnson, Fairchild's LVDS product manager.

"These repeaters enable LVDS signals to go farther and faster than before".

The LVDS repeaters can also be used for signal-level translation.

Their wide common-mode range allows a designer to directly interface multiple I/O standards to LVDS levels, including direct interfacing to LVPECL (low voltage positive ECL), SSTL-2 (series stub-terminated logic), and HSTL (high-speed transceiver logic).

Fairchild's high-speed repeaters operate at greater than 800Mbit/s, allowing interfacing to STS-1, STS-3, and STS-12 levels.

End systems can achieve higher bandwidth capability with short 1.5ns (max) prop delay, low peak-to-peak jitter, tight 35ps (typical) channel-to-channel skew, and low power.

The FIN1101, for example, dissipates one-quarter the power of competing products.

The FIN1101, a 1:1 repeater, in 8-lead SOIC or US8; and the FIN1102, a 2:2 repeater, in 14-lead TSSOP are currently available for sampling and production.

The FIN1104, a 4:4 repeater, in 24-lead TSSOP, is available in February; and the FIN1108, an 8:8 repeater, in 48-lead TSSOP, is available for production in March.

Fairchild's EnSigna(tm) Lab and EnSigna Web support system design, simulation, and evaluation for these and other ICs used in backplane and interconnect applications.