TriQuint's New Datacoms Chipsets Feature GaAs & Silicon ICs

TriQuint Semiconductor, Inc.'s Computing and Networking Division based in Santa Clara, CA, USA, has launched two low-cost serial datacoms chipsets which incorporate two GaAs and one CMOS silicon ICs. The chipsets offer "low cost, high reliability and unrivalled functionality"; the FC-220 is for IBM's ESCON vv (Enterprise Systems Connection) architecture and the FC-265 is for the Fiber Channel (FC) standards.

H igh performance datacoms applications promise to be a billion dollar industry for

high performance IC products and hence a great opportunity for digital GaAs devices. However, the high speed datacoms challenge will only favour a GaAs IC-based solution when the performance comes with matching low cost and high reliabil- ity. TriQuint has a clear intention to seize the high speed datacoms oppor- tunity and the latest chipset is the next step in its long-term strategy.

In fact, these latest additions to TriQuint's family of datacom pro- ducts constitute one of the industry's first offerings of a new breed of very ergonomic mixed GaAs-silicon IC chipsets. It makes sense not only in plain economics but also for designa- bility and performance, to use GaAs at the speed critical points and CMOS where you can get away with it. The mixed GaAs - silicon IC chipset is a partnership which we are sure to see more of in the future.

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lHQumt has also set out to make lh~,. nc,a chipsets as user-friendt5 as possible and make their acceptance and take-up by designers as rapid and painless as possible. For example, the tw o chipsets share identical t\~otprints and pinouts, allowing ior seamless migration from one standard to the other. TriQuint has deliberately parti- tioned the chipset so as to yield a flcxiblc, low-cost, Io~-powcr solution without compronnsing speed-critical l'ur~ctions. The chipsets, v,.'hich the company describes as "robust" (i.e. their performance ~s way beyond wha~ the applications call for), provide high reliability and more functionality than existing solutions. They address the growing need for high-speed d~ttacoms between computers and their peripherals over standard data- links. It should be noted that there is a third possible application for the

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chipset. That is, ATM (asynchronous transmission mode) LANs with the packet rate of 155.5 MB/s but a serial data rate of 194.4 MB/s.

The three-component chipsets in- clude a transmitter, receiver and encoder/decoder. The GA9101 trans- mitter and GA9102 receiver being common to both the ESCON and Fiber Channel designs are implemen- ted using TriQuint's matureproprie- tary 0.7 micron One-Up Tjv' GaAs process. There is, however, to be no second sourcing for now, TriQuint said. The chipset, the company says, "provides a low-risk design solution and a smooth upgrade path to higher performance data communication standards". The third chip in each set is a state-of-the-art CMOS enco- der/decoder (ENDEC) common to both, designed and developed by TriQuint engineers but produced by an outside foundry.

Implementation of the chipset in GaAs means that for the low data rates of 265.625 Mbaud, GaAs is idling while silicon alternatives are seriously pushing their respective process, design and power perfor- mance envelopes.

With the new chipset TriQuint is hoping to offer designers maximum flexibility and long-run economics. It is intended to help users subsequently develop their own highly integrated ASIC to implement FC-1, FC-2 and FC-4 functions and the remaining signalling and framing protocols of FC-2.

The way TriQuint envisions de- signers moving from this solution to the ASIC is three-fold: either they incorporate all the functions of the ENDEC into their own higher density CMOS ASIC, or they develop an ASIC that functionally dovetails into TriQuint's ENDEC. The third alter- native is that users incorporate the analog functionality of the optical interface along with the TriQuint digital Tx/Rx. This is possible be- cause the TriQuint process is a mixed- mode process (this would also help reduce the overall node cost).

To aid evaluation of the ESCON and Fiber Channel chipsets, TriQuint is offering FCC-200FL and FCC- 265FL evaluation cards. The FCC- 200FL, designed for ESCON, has the special optics and connectors speci- fied by IBM for this link. The FCC- 265FL has SC connectors as specified

by the FC standard. The cards are compatible with TriQuint's existing Hot Rod T M Development System (HRDS), a menu-driven, standalone system which allows the user quick and easy access to various data patterns.

TriQuint's Hot Rod products, in- troduced in August 1989, have been incorporated into many CISC and RISC board designs. As readers may be aware, Gazelle, GigaBit Logic and TriQuint merged into a single entity in 1990. This chipset is an evolution of parallel efforts at Gazelle and Giga- Bit.

The new devices are offered as chipsets which include the transmit- ter, receiver and encoder/decoder: the FC-200 ESCON and FC-265 Fiber Channel chipsets are available imme- diately for $110 and $119.50 in 100- piece quantities, respectively. Within 18 months these are expected to be in the $50 range for production quan- tities. The transmitter and receiver chips are available in 28-pin surface mount packages and dissipate an average of 800 mW each. Both ENDEC chips are available in 68- pin PLCC packages.

The FC-200FL and FC-265FL evaluation boards are priced at $2810 and $2000 in quantities of one to nine, respectively.

As a footnote, readers may appreci- ate a short explanation of the data- corns terminology used here. IBM's ESCON I/O interface standard pro- vides a 200 Megabaud (Mbaud) serial optical fiber communication link between channels and control units that implement IBM's Enterprise Systems Architecture/390 TM (ESA/ 390TM). The topology is either point- to-point or switched point-to-point. Meanwhile, the Fiber Channel stan- dard provides a flexible general transport vehicle for upper layer protocols of Intelligent Peripheral Interface (IPI), Small Computer Sys- tem Interface (SCSI) command sets, High Performance Parallel Interface (HiPPI) data framing and others such as the IEEE 802.2 Logical Link Control (LLC). FC is capable of replacing the SCSI, IPI and HiPPI physical interfaces with a protocol- efficient alternative that provides performance improvements in dis- tance and/or speed. The standard has been optimized for predictable transfers of large blocks of data

between processors and peripherals. With FC, multiple applications can be intermixed on the same physical link.

These latest additions to TriQuint's family of datacom products constitute a very ergonomic GaAs-silicon IC partnership which we are sure to see more of in the future. After all, it makes sense not only in plain eco- nomics but also for designability and performance, to use GaAs at the critical points and CMOS where you can get away with it.

Contact." Anil Bedi, TriQuint Semiconductor Inc,

telffax: [1] (408) 982 0900 / 0222 or GIGA A/S, TriQuint's European representative, c/o Finn Helmer. tel/fax: [45] 43 43 1588 / 5967.

TriQuint 250 ps Skew Clock Buffers TriQuint has also announced the availability of 66 MHz GA1086 and GA1086E clock buffer ICs offering 10 TTL-compatible out- puts with pin-to-pin output skew of 250 ps (maximum). The GA1086 and the GA1086E were designed specifically to support the stringent timing requirements of high-speed processors including Intel's next- generation P5.

The GA1086 and GA1086E clock buffer ICs are fabricated using TriQuint's One-up (TM) Gal- lium Arsenide technology to achieve precise timing control and to guarantee 100% TTL compat- ibility. Each device operates from a single + 5 V power supply.

Both the devices are available in a standard 28-pin J-lead surface mount package. This cost effective package and the low power dis- sipation of 800 mW combine to eliminate the need for costly and space-consuming heat sinks and fans TriQuint says.

Unit price is $26.79 in quantities of 1,000 pieces for the GAI086. The GA1086E is priced at $22.73, also in quantities of 1,000 pieces, available immediately.