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connectivityZONE Products for the week of July 28, 2008
Pericom Semiconductor Corporation Says…
SATA 3 Gbit/s and SAS Signal Integrity Products Support Next Generation Digital Media Platforms
Unique signal integrity products enable significant improvement in high- bandwidth media data-transfer applications
Pericom Semiconductor Corporation has announced its next generation SATA 3Gbits/s and Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) signal conditioning products. These new products enable cost-effective implementation of next generation high bandwidth external SATA 3Gbits/s and SAS HDDs (Hard Disk Drives) for connectivity to PC notebook and desktop, digital set-top box and server system platforms.
Pericom’s new PI2EQX3431 SATA 3Gbits/s/SAS ReDriver IC is a one-port product that significantly improves the signal waveform integrity and total allowable distance when connecting next generation SATA 3Gbits/s or SAS 3.0Gbits/s HDDs to a ‘host’ (desktop, server, or set top box). This connection can be either external through a long cable, or internal through long PCB traces. External SATA is now a mainstream system feature for data and media storage expansion and backup, providing significantly improved performance over alternative solutions.
Along with the signal conditioning features, the new PI2EQX3421 serves as a 1:2 port switch to select between two HDDs (or alternatively, two hosts). All SATA 3Gbits/s/SAS ReDriver products have been validated with both Intel and AMD notebook and desktop PC platforms and these new products join Pericom’s other SATA 3Gbits/s/SAS ReDriver ICs, the PI2EQX3201, PI2EQX3202 and PI2EQX3232 products.
“A 3000Mbps SATA 3Gbits/s or SAS based HDD can outperform a 480Mbps USB2-based HDD by six times when used in external storage applications - a capability that is especially important to transfer today’s large media and data files,” said Shaf Rahman, Pericom’s senior director of Switch and Interface products. “We estimate that more than 5% of all PC systems in 2009 will offer an external SATA port connection. Pericom’s SATA 3Gbit/s/SAS ReDriver products are specifically targeted to give our customers an edge in routing high bandwidth protocols. We already have a Tier 1 notebook customer using our new SATA 3Gbit/s ReDriver in their new platform with external SATA 3Gbits/s HDD port, with excellent performance results.”
High-bandwidth signals allow much faster data transfer, but also present design implementation barriers including short trace or short cable lengths, and connector signal integrity issues. Pericom’s ReDriver signal integrity technology provides both receiver channel signal equalization and transmit channel signal conditioning, which eliminates noise and restores signal quality. This in turn enables the customer to implement his needed design across longer lengths of a cost-effective cable and multiple connectors without compromising signal integrity or system performance.
PI2EQX3421 & PI2EQX3431 SATA 3Gbit/s& SAS ReDriver Key Features and Benefits
- 1-port SATA 3Gbit/s /SAS differential signal conditioner (PI2EQX3431) enables 3.0Gbps communication over long cables and FR4 traces
- 1:2 port SATA 3Gbits/s SAS multiplexer/demux (PI2EQX3421) enables easy allocation of system resources, while insuring gigahertz signal quality
- Programmable receiver equalization provides input signal reconstruction and programmable transmitter amplitude allows optimized pre-compensation of the output signal for maximum trace/cable lengths
- Low-power operating and stand-by modes minimize power requirements
EN-Genius Says…
I thought the USB 2.0 480 Mbit/s rate would be sufficient for most consumer peripherals for some time to come, but Pericom was smart enough to be ready to cash in on the stampede that's already underway towards 3 Gbit/s SATA storage interfaces. The additional reach and signal margin they deliver makes it much easier for higher-end notebooks, desktops, and set-top boxes to enjoy the 6x performance boost that a 3 Gbit/s SATA disk drive offers over a similarly-sized peripheral sporting a USB 2.0 interface. Equally important, Pericom has managed to price their redriver and port demux competitively enough (somewhere well under $1 in high volumes) to make them near-no-brainers wherever reliable 3 Gbit/s SATA connections are in demand.
The single-lane device family borrows heavily from the technology and expertise they acquired developing their PCIe Gen2 redriver products – (reviewed here October 2007) but strips out any non-essential elements to meet the slim price margins they’ll encounter in the competitive PC market. The PI2EQX3431 1:1 SATA redriver eliminates the transmit pre-emphasis circuit normally associated with multi-Gigabit SerDes transceivers. On the receive side, it has a simple two-level equalizer (1.5 dB and 5.5 dB) that Pericom says is more than enough to deal with the limited range of trace lengths (6 inches to 10 inches) found in the mother boards of most PCs and notebooks. It can also drive external peripherals across 1 ft to 2 ft of eSATA cable that’s typically used in external storage applications today. The PI2EQX3421 1:2 demux/redriver uses the same receive equalization scheme plus a simple transmit pre-emphasis circuit to compensate for any extra channel impairments it encounters in a docking station connection.
Thanks to the simplified circuitry, both devices enjoy lower power consumption than their PCIe counterparts. The PI2EQX3431 redriver consumes 300 mW worth of power in its active mode and 100 mW when in standby. Due mostly to its second port the PI2EQX3421 1:2 demux/redriver draws 400 mW when it’s running although its standby power is still around 100 mW.
While not very glamorous, these strategically-designed parts will play a key role in supporting SATA II’s greatly-increased transfer rates, increasingly necessary to efficiently support external drives that can hold a terabyte or more. SATA II dominance will most likely be challenged around 2011 when Intel starts to roll out its USB 3.0 technology; but, until then, Pericom will be one of only a handful of other vendors to enjoy this large unified market in the interim.
Samples and evaluation kits for both the PI2EQX3421 & PI2EQX3431 are available now, offered in Pb-free & green packaging. Pricing for the PI2EQX3421 is $1.95 and $1.45 for the PI2EQX3431, both in 10-k piece lots. Pericom says that when ordered in higher volumes either device can cost significantly under $1.
Product Page PI2EQX3431
Product Page PI2EQX3421
Application Note Interface SATA signals using PI2EQX3xxx SATA ReDriver
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