An LVDS interface IC (integrated circuit) are semiconductor devices that provide a means of a balanced digital transmission method. LVDS stands for low voltage differential signalling and is also known as TIA/EIA-644. LVDS ICs have the added benefit of being able to operate at low power and run at high speeds through the use of copper cables.

Types of LVDS interface IC.

LVDS Interface ICs are offered in a wide range of types offering different types of specifications such as;

LVDS buffer - An LVDS buffer, also known as a fanout buffer, is a semiconductor IC that can create multiple copies of the input signal and distribute them among several loads while achieving fast rise/fall time and low jitter. Voltage swing can be adjusted externally as well. The interface of the ICs input and output are CML (Current-mode logic) which is designed to transmit data at speeds between 312.5 MBps and 3.125 GBps across standard PCBs. These are also available in combination with an LVDS repeater.

LVDS Serialiser and deserialiser - A serialiser converts parallel data into a serial high-speed, low-voltage differential signalling (LVDS) data stream. The deserialiser takes the serial output of a serializer and converts it back to parallel. Some of the ICs, when programmed for STP input, is backwards compatible with any GMSL (Gigabit Multimedia Serial Link) serializer.

LVDS receivers - LVDS receivers are devices that implement the characteristics of an LVDS. Some receivers feature ultra-low power consumption as well as the separation of input and output signals and flowthrough pin configuration for ease of laying out on a PCB.

LVDS repeaters - The repeater ICs provide separation of input and output signals using LVDS technology. These devices are designed to accept a single LVDS input and duplicate the signal at a single output.

LVDS transmitters - An LVDS transmitter IC applies a constant voltage current into a wires, with the direction of current determining the digital logic level.

Applications of LVDS interface IC

LVDS ICs are widely used in a range of applications such as;

High-speed video
Graphics
Backplane data transmission
Networking and wireless base station infrastructure
Point-to-point data transmission