8.1 Overview

The DS250DF410 is a four-channel multi-rate retimer with integrated signal conditioning. Each of the four channels operates independently. Each channel includes a continuous-time linear equalizer (CTLE) and a Decision Feedback Equalizer (DFE), which together compensate for the presence of a dispersive transmission channel between the source transmitter and the DS250DF410 receiver. The CTLE and DFE are self-adaptive.

Each channel includes an independent voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) and phase-locked loop (PLL) which produce a clean clock that is frequency-locked to the clock embedded in the input data stream. The high-frequency jitter on the incoming data is attenuated by the PLL, producing a clean clock with substantially-reduced jitter. This clean clock is used to re-time the incoming data, removing high-frequency jitter from the data stream and reproducing the data on the output with significantly-reduced jitter.

Each channel of the DS250DF410 features an output driver with adjustable differential output voltage and output equalization in the form of a three-tap finite impulse response (FIR) filter. The output FIR compensates for dispersion in the transmission channel at the output of the DS250DF410.

Between each group of two adjacent channels (e.g. between channels 0 and 1, 2 and 3) is a full 2x2 cross-point switch. This allows multiplexing and de-multiplexing/fanout applications for fail-over redundancy, as well as cross-over applications to aid PCB routing.

Each channel also includes diagnostic features such as a Pseudo Random Bit Sequence (PRBS) pattern generator and checker, as well as a non-destructive eye opening monitor (EOM). The EOM can be used to plot the post-equalized eye at the input to the decision slicer or simply to read the horizontal eye opening (HEO) and vertical eye opening (VEO).

The DS250DF410 is configurable through a single SMBus port. The DS250DF410 can also act as an SMBus master to configure itself from an EEPROM. Up to sixteen DS250DF410 devices can share a single SMBus.

The sections which follow describe the functionality of various circuits and features within the DS250DF410. For more information about how to program or operate these features, consult the DS250DF410 Programming Guide.