USB 3.0 host controllers speed transfers, cut power use

Renesas Electronics Corp. rolls the?PD720201 and?PD720202 SuperSpeed USB 3.0 xHCI host controllers that claim faster effective data transfer speeds and reduced power consumption in low power mode for electronic devices such as PCs and DTVs.

The controllers make it easier for system designers to build electronic devices combining high-speed data transfer, compact size, and extended battery life. They add a four-port product to the company's USB 3.0 product lineup and deliver even faster transfer speeds, better power efficiency, and more compact size than the company's previous versions of USB 3.0 host controllers.

The devices offer an increase in the effective data write speed of more than 40 percent from the company's existing host controller products for peripheral devices such as USB 3.0 hard disks.

It features circuit improvements that effectively suppress current leakage when in low-power mode, cutting power consumption in low-power mode to 4.5mW, or a reduction of 90 percent compared with Renesas Electronics' existing products.

The?PD720201 and the?PD720202 devices are equipped in 8mm and 7mm square QFN packages, respectively, which are reductions in package size of approximately 50 percent from Renesas' existing products.

Also, the devices feature a function that makes use of improvements to the PCIe interface to allow downloading of firmware from the system software, such as the BIOS. The ability to download the firmware from the system software eliminates the need for external serial flash ROM. This reduces the number of components required for incorporating a USB 3.0 function and enables a smaller mounting area.