Adaptive Cable Equalizer/Driver Supports 3.2 Gb/s Data Rates

The MAX3800 is a 3.3V adaptive cable equalizer and driver on a single chip that extends the usable length of coaxial and twinaxial copper cable in high-frequency interconnect applications by equalizing differential or single-ended signals at data rates up to 3.2 Gb/s. It automatically adjusts to attenuation caused by skin effect levels of up to 30 dB at 1.6 GHz, making 30m cables at less than $1.65 per meter viable interconnect solutions. The cable driver accepts differential or single-ended current-mode logic input data and features adjustable CML output levels from 500 mV to 1,000 mV. The equalizer includes differential CML data I/Os, a TTL loss-of-signal output, and a cable integrity monitor output. The MAX3800 is available in a 32-pin TQFP with exposed pad and costs $9.96 each/1,000.