Serial links take on roles in clamshell-design connections
By Maury Wright, Editor In Chief -- EDN, March 3, 2006
The clamshell form factor is popular in products ranging from handsets to portable media players to notebooks. And designers struggle with reliable ways to connect a screen to the main electronics subsystem, especially in some phones and cameras in which the upper half of the shell can rotate. The answer may be moving the parallel data that drives displays over serial links. Fairchild announced its μSERDES (serializer/deserializer) product for such applications last year. The product is a finalist for an EDN Innovation Award. Now, Texas Instruments has introduced the Flat-Link 3G IC, which can drive even higher resolution displays.
The FlatLink IC can transmit 24-bit RGB signals and support screen resolutions from QVGA to XGA. The serial link uses sub-LVDS (low-voltage-differential signaling), a 150-mV swing, whereas LVDS typically relies on a 350-mV swing. The lower voltage minimizes EMI problems. TI is now shipping the first product in the family, the SN65LVDS301, for a price of $2.10 (1000). This 24-bit product requires three serial channels to connect the display. TI will later offer reduced-resolution, one- and two-channel versions, which presumably will cost less.
