‘Virtually invisible’ protection for hd connections

ST says it has responded to growing access to hd content in home multimedia networks, which has meant that equipment such as game terminals, pcs and televisions are now integrating high speed interfaces such as HDMI, DisplayPort and DiiVA (Digital interactive interface for Video and Audio). These interconnects combine several multi gigabit data channels to achieve total data rates in excess of 10Gbit/s in the case of HDMI 1.4 and up to 13.5Gbit/s for DiiVA. "The extremely high per channel data rates of advanced multimedia connections increase the demands on devices protecting internal circuitry as the equipment is connected and disconnected," said Eric Paris, product marketing director, STMicroelectronics. "ST is responding to this challenge by expanding its HSP high speed protection IC family to save part count and pcb space, and enable hd equipment to maintain ultra high data rates." The device is said have the smallest package dimensions currently on the market, and with ultra low capacitance per line and close matching between capacitance values, the HSP061-8M16 has been optimised to minimise slowing of data edges and prevent signal skew between adjacent lines.