Pericom Launching USB 3.0 Signal Conditioning Family

Pericom Semiconductor Corporation, supplier of connectivity, signal-conditioning and timing solutions, announces the volume production ramp up of its USB 3.0 ReDriver Signal Conditioning product family.

The product family is being designed into platforms offering the new USB 3.0 serial protocol, and enables these high speed channels to operate over longer distances and still meet the signal specifications.

In related news, the ‘Pericom Add-On Card 7741’ has passed all USB-IF workshop compliance tests and has been awarded official SuperSpeed USB certification. Pericom’s latest generation PI3EQX7741 USB 3.0 ReDriver signal conditioning IC was mounted on the add-on card and directly in the signal path for all USB 3.0 tests.

USB 3.0 ReDriver enables end customer platform designers to extend the PCB trace or cable length and preserve signal integrity.

The ReDriver technology accomplishes this by providing additional signal strength and equalization between the host and the end point, which allows the platform to accept a wider range of USB 3.0 signals leaving and entering the platform. This extra signal margin can help assure that the platform will properly recognize and connect to a peripheral USB 3.0 device at USB 3.0 speeds.

End customer platforms for USB 3.0 ReDriver products include notebook, desktop, docking station, workstation, server, storage, embedded, networking, consumer, HDD/SSD, and other platforms that are moving to the new and faster USB 3.0 serial protocol. USB is the most widely used protocol in the world, with the expansion to USB 3.0 occurring now, and offering transfer speeds up to 10 times faster than USB 2.0.

"We see a broad adoption rate of our USB 3.0 ReDriver family driven by customers needing extra signal margin on their platforms," said Bill Weir, senior director for Pericom’s Connect Products Group. "Our technical support teams work very closely with our customer engineers worldwide, which helps speed up their design cycle and time to market."

In-Stat (June, 2011) forecasts that by 2015, over 37% of the approximately 5 billion USB devices shipped that year will be SuperSpeed USB enabled, with an exceptional CAGR averaging over 178%.

Pericom estimates that up to 5% of the SuperSpeed USB devices, mainly in the PC and consumer segments, will require signal conditioning to maintain signal integrity across PCB traces, connectors, and cables.

USB 3.0 ReDriver product family offers low power in active, standby, slumber, and unplug modes. In addition, dual port, single channel, and single port industry partner compatible pinout versions are offered. The entire product family operates from a single 3.3V supply, with no external clock source required. They offer user programmable EQ, emphasis, and output swing. The single channel product offers a small 3x3mm TQFN footprint for consumer as well as computing applications, and can be configured to operate in either the receive or transmit channel.

Availability
PI3EQX7741 (1 port), PI2EQX7742 (2 port), PI3EQX7745 (1 channel), PI3EQX7502 (1 port) USB 3.0 ReDrivers – samples, design kit, production quantities – now.

Pricing:

• PI3EQX7741, PI3EQX7502: 1 port USB3 ReDrivers, $1.18 @ 10Ku
• PI3EQX7742: 2 port USB3 ReDriver, $1.95 @ 10Ku
• PI3EQX7745: 1 channel USB3 ReDriver, $0.99 @ 10Ku