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eUSB2 for Lower Voltage Processes and Lower Power-July 1, 2019 |
From a Galaxy Far, Far Away (or More Like 2015 ish)
The USB-IF anticipated that process nodes would advance to a point where the USB 2.0 standard of 3.3V signally wouldn’t work anymore. Or rather, the IO voltages in advanced process nodes don’t support generating or receiving 3.3V for signaling.
At the same time, the expectation is that USB will continue to be integrated as the primary external interface for peripherals and data. This means that PCs, tablets, phones, set top boxes, and TVs will have USB alongside WiFi and Bluetooth.
Since newer nodes have IO voltages that can’t support 3.3V signaling, for USB 2.0 interoperability, the 3.3V signaling must be provided outside the system-on-chip (SoC).
The Importance of eUSB2
The expectation is that initially there will eUSB2 chips that will bridge from an SoC with low voltages (Figure 1). This will be an eUSB2 repeater. Then users who are using a standard USB mouse from 1998 or a 4MB flash drive from 2005 can use it with an advanced laptop of 2023. This sort of setup will work because eUSB2 IP will boost the signal and provide the support for external peripherals or legacy peripherals.