Product category:
Communications ICs (Wired)
News Release from: SMSC | Subject: USB3300
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial
Team on 09 August 2005
PHY chip supports low-pin interface
SMSC has announced its support of the royalty-free ULPI specification through the availability of the company's USB3300 ULPI stand-alone peripheral, embedded host or On The Go transceiver.
In line with the availability of the UTMI+ low-pin interface (ULPI) industry specification for Hi-Speed Universal Serial Bus (USB) and USB On-The-Go (OTG) transceiver chips, SMSC has announced its support of the royalty-free ULPI specification through the availability of the company's USB3300 ULPI stand-alone peripheral, embedded host or On The Go (OTG) transceiver The USB3300, announced in November 2004, is the industry's first ULPI physical layer transceiver (PHY) to achieve the USB-IF's Hi-Speed certification and is ideal for consumer electronics applications requiring a Hi-Speed USB connection
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 18 Aug 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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This eliminates the primary barrier for adoption of stand-alone PHYs in combination with ASICs, SoCs and FPGAs where success hinges on the ability to reduce both the complexity of a design and expense.
Additionally, critical to OTG functionality, two primary tests are required by the USB-IF as part of the OPT test - the Host Negotiation Protocol (HNP) and Session Request Protocol (SRP).
Achieving this certification, the USB3300 offers an easier integration path for OTG-enabled devices.
"As a promoter and one of the founding members of the ULPI Working Group, we are delivering breakthrough products for ASIC, SoC and FPGA designers considering the benefits of a stand-alone Hi-Speed USB PHY".
"As designs migrate towards the 90nm technology node and beyond, we are seeing a dramatic shift towards utilising a stand-alone PHY due to complex issues that exist when integrating a transceiver at these densities", said Steve Nelson, Vice President of Marketing - Connectivity Solutions at SMSC.
"These designers are now fully empowered to add Hi-Speed USB connectivity to their products while avoiding the risk and cost of trying to integrate 5V tolerant analogue PHY circuitry".
"Customers are also looking to SMSC to implement multiport embedded host expandability via a single ULPI controller and interface, which is expected to further tip the scale in favour of designs leveraging the ULPI interface and the USB3300".
The USB3300 features a ULPI-optimised design architecture, eliminating the timing degradation exhibited by competing PHYs that add a ULPI RTL wrapper around a core UTMI+ PHY.
It also features the industry's best Hi-Speed eye diagram, optimised throughout SMSC's broad family of Hi-Speed USB products.
In combination with the PHY's timing advantages, this translates into maximum manufacturing margin for customers of Hi-Speed USB controller/PHY systems.
It can be designed either into systems with native ULPI controller cores or with UTMI+ controller cores using a ULPI controller wrapper.
With the industry's lowest power consumption and smallest package design, which is at least 60% smaller than its UTMI+ counterparts, the USB3300 is a matchless solution for portable consumer electronics products such as cellular phones, PDAs, MP3 player, digital still and video cameras and portable media players.
Nelson further commented that since the USB3300 PHY's first-to-market introduction, it has already been integrated into several consumer electronic platforms as designers have realised the performance benefits resulting from the adoption of a stand-alone solution in aggressive geometry designs.
The USB3300 is available in a 5 x 5 x 0.9mm 32-pin QFN package.
Qualification samples and production quantities of the SMSC USB3300 are available today.
Pricing is $2.00 per unit (US list price) in 10,000-unit quantities.
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