ON Semiconductor supports PCI Express applications with new clock and data, switching and protection devices

The new devices include the NB3N1XXK family of differential clock and data fanout buffers, the NCN3411 4-channel and NCN3612B 6-channel differential switches, and the ESD7004 and ESD7008 transient voltage suppressors.

Clock and Data

The NB3N106K, NB3N108K, NB3N111K, and NB3N121K differential fanout clock and data drivers provide a choice of 6, 8, 10 or 21 outputs and are ideal for systems requiring multiple copies of high precision, low phase noise clocks. Typical additive phase jitter of just 0.1 picoseconds rms (integrated over 12 kilohertz to 20 megahertz), and low output-to-output skew of 100 ps (max) enables the use of these high performance fan-out buffers in PCIe generation I, II and III compliant applications. Device inputs can directly accept single-ended or differential LVPECL, LVDS and HCSL signals, enhancing flexibility by allowing system designers to easily interface to multiple input signaling schemes. Furthermore, a complete clock tree can be realised with the PCIe clock synthesisers NB3N3002 and NB3N5573 to provide a clock source to the NB3N1XXK fan-out buffers.

Switching

The NCN3411 and NCN3612B differential switches are designed for use in PCIe 3.0 applications and support data rates of up to 8.0 gigabits per second. The new devices have low supply current requirements of 200 microamperes and 250 µA respectively that also help reduce heat dissipation. The single-pole, double throw NCN3411 offers four differential channels allowing it to handle up to two PCIe lanes, enabling a single controller to manage two PCIe slots. The NCN3612B meanwhile is compatible with Display Port 1.2 and PCIe 3.0 allowing switching between both data types.

Protection

Protection of sensitive high-speed data lines from electrostatic discharge is an important consideration in PCIe applications. ON Semiconductor’s unidirectional 4-channel ESD7004 and integrated 4-pair (8 line) ESD7008 are low capacitance, low clamping voltage ESD protection diodes that provide ideal PCIe protection solutions. A flow-through style package simplifies PCB layout and the matching of trace lengths necessary to maintain consistent impedance.

“As a member of the Peripheral Component Interconnect Special Interest Group, ON Semiconductor continues to expand its portfolio of products to support the advanced interfaces required by networking and communications customers,” said David Somo, vice president of Corporate Marketing at ON Semiconductor. “These new clock, switching, and protection devices are specifically developed to enable the maximum system burst throughput required by PCI Express applications.”