USB transceivers slim for handset duties

Transceiver solutions are the smallest in the market and address the specific needs of today's ultraslim handset designs and other sleek portable devices.

Underscoring its venerable reputation in high-quality connectivity solutions, NXP Semiconductors has announced availability of its new generation UTMI+ Low-Pin Interface (ULPI) High-Speed USB transceivers, developed specifically for mobile phone designs.

With the smallest transceiver in the family measuring in at 2.2 x 2.25 x 0.6mm, in a 0.4mm ball pitch, NXP's transceiver solutions are the smallest in the market and address the specific needs of today's ultraslim handset designs and other sleek portable devices.

In addition, as the actual USB usage in mobile phones is low compared with overall talk and standby time, NXP's transceivers avoid battery drain by consuming only 0.5uA in power-down mode.

"As data-intensive applications proliferate among wireless subscribers, the mobile phone market will continue to be one of the central drivers of increased USB integration", said In-Stat analyst Brian O'Rourke.

"Handset vendors will seek new, more efficient ways of including USB in their next handset, and chip vendors, like NXP, are working to align closely with their needs".

"NXP has closely collaborated with major mobile phone vendors, to address their concerns when designing USB capability into the newest lines of chic mobile handsets and to ensure end users receive reliable USB connection during the transfer of data, music and video", said Paul Marino, Vice President and General Manager of Business Line Connectivity, NXP Semiconductors.

"Our new generation of transceivers provides handset OEMs with choices for the features that matter most to them, such as small footprint, ultra low power, ULPI SDR and DDR modes, USB OTG, support for different system frequencies and transparent UART modes, among others".

NXP's family of new generation ULPI High-Speed USB transceivers contains four members - ISP1504x1, ISP1508, ISP1702 and ISP1703, all of which are fully compliant with industry specifications, including ULPI Rev 1.1, USB On-The-Go (OTG) Rev 1.2 and USB Rev 2.0.

Catering to the special needs of mobile phones, all transceivers support a mobile phone's wider range of input supply voltage of 3.0 to 4.5V.

A new power-down mode conserves battery with an ultra low-power consumption of less than 0.5uA when the USB transceiver is not in use.

This initial range of second-generation ULPI transceivers have host, peripheral and OTG functions.

ISP1508, ISP1702 and ISP1703 address lower system voltage levels with their VCC(I/O) of 1.4 to 1.95 V, and some can be pin-selected to be in single datarate (SDR) or double datarate (DDR) interface operation.

Additionally, all three parts can support USB charger detection, and external charge pump for OTG function.

The ULPI transceiver interface, on which NXP's second-generation ULPI High-Speed USB transceivers are based, was developed by an industry consortium to allow chips and systems designers to connect a High-Speed USB transceiver to USB core logic embedded in application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and systems-on-chip (SoCs).

By using the ULPI standard interface instead of proprietary interfaces, ASIC and SoC designers can reduce design time, simplify testing and ensure interoperability with USB transceivers.

NXP's ISP504x1, ISP1508 and ISP1702 devices are sampling now, with the first two products in mass production in March and April, respectively.

Pricing for each device is as follows: US $1.30 for ISP1504x1, $1.20 for ISP1702 and $1.10 for ISP1508 and ISP1703, all in high-volume quantities.

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