IDT signal-conditioning repeater first to achieve full SATA 6G compliance

SAN JOSE, USA: Integrated Device Technology Inc. (IDT) has announced the industry’s first signal-conditioning repeater to pass all tests required for full compliance with the Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) 6Gb/s standard for Hard Disk Drive (HDD) and Solid State Drive (SSD) interfaces. As the first fully-compliant repeater component, it simplifies system design and enhances reliability of any SATA application.

The SATA storage interface is the popular, standard interface for a majority of storage components and systems today. New 6G SATA devices are in the early stage of wide-spread adoption and represent an important performance upgrade from the 3Gb/s SATA standard.

The increase in signaling speed can result in signal integrity issues that can be remedied by IDT’s high-quality signal-conditioning repeaters. The IDT 89HP0602Q adds to a broad set of signal conditioning solutions, and is ideal for use in computing platforms such as servers, workstations, desktop, notebook PCs, and enterprise storage systems to ensure good signal integrity and reliable system operation.

“Once again, IDT affirms its position as a leader in multi-gigabit-rate connectivity solutions for the computing market. This compliance certification represents a significant step forward in providing customers with a device that is easy to use and improves system operation and reliability,” said Mario Montana, vice president and general manager of the Enterprise Computing Division at IDT. “This SATA certification follows compliance certification by the PCI SIG of our PCIe Gen 2 repeaters and further demonstrates IDT’s commitment to our portfolio of signal-conditioning products.”

The IDT 2-channel (1-lane) 6Gb/s SATA 89HP0602Q repeater enables 6Gb/s-per-channel operation over the same distance as older 3Gb/s implementations across system backplanes or over long cables in eSATA applications. IDT’s products improve system performance and reliability, and lower bill-of-materials costs by reducing overall design complexity.

“IDT’s signal integrity products arm system designers with the tools they need to deploy new high-speed standards,” said Mike Engbretson, CTO of Granite River Labs. “The IDT 6G SATA repeaters enable the linking of server storage sub-systems with high-speed communications that conform to the new 6G SATA standard. The convenience of using a repeater to ensure signal integrity and standards compliance will provide a clear benefit to many 6G SATA applications.”

The IDT 89HP0602Q repeater includes a high-performance analog front end receiver, followed by an adjustable Continuous Time Linear Equalizer (CTLE). This highly sensitive input can recover data from a very small millivolt-range input signal. The device’s output transmitter provides adjustable swing and de-emphasis to pre-compensate the transmission signal allowing data communication over a long trace or cable.

The IDT 89HP0602Q 1-lane repeater is available in a 4mm x 4mm, 20-pad QFN package. Complementary SATA repeaters offering an increased number of ports include the 89HP604SB (2-lane), 89HP0604S (2-lane with I2C configuration) and 89HP0608S (4-lane with I2C configuration). IDT’s Signal Integrity Product family contains solutions for common industry interfaces, including PCIe Gen2 and Gen3, USB3, XAUI, SATA, SAS and Serial RapidIO. The devices come in various channel densities and package sizes.