USB Type-C interface focuses on architectural flexibility

11th January 2016

Jordan Mulcare

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Datasheet

STMicroelectronics has announced a solution for USB Type-C and Power Delivery with an interface IC aimed at clearing the 'Rat’s Nest' of cables in the office and living room currently used to charge and connect computers, smartphones, tablets, TVs, set-top boxes, gaming platforms, and a broad range of consumer, industrial and IoT smart devices.

The USB Type-C connector and new standard Power Delivery modifies the USB ecosystem from a data interface capable of supplying limited power to a primary provider of power that includes a well-proven and widely adopted data interface. The connector offers reversible plug orientation and cable direction, delivering data rates up to 10Gbps and power up to 100W, making it ideal for consolidating numerous cables.

Manufactured using ST’s 20V process technology, the STUSB16 interface IC integrates short-circuit, over-voltage, over-current protection, eliminating the need for external circuitry. Additionally, it offers plug power support (V_CONN) with up to 600mA programmable current capability and, per the USB Power Delivery specification, it integrates Bi-Phase Mark Coded (BMC) Physical Layer (PHY) coding and decoding logic.

"Knowing well the frustration of being surrounded by numerous different cables with very limited interoperability, ST, as member of the USB-IF Board of Directors and an active player on the USB Implementers Forum, is working aggressively to build a strong and flexible portfolio of USB Type-C and power delivery solutions that include our STM32 microcontroller, ESD protection devices and power-management products," said Andrea Onetti, Group Vice President and General Manager Volume MEMS Division, STMicroelectronics. “The new STUSB16 family embeds higher levels of circuit protection and a customer-configurable non-volatile memory, which enables IC configuration at power-up without software support. Overall, the ST portfolio delivers a low BOM cost and flexible hardware/software solution capable of meeting every power-profile requirement and customisation need.”

ST has enabled the migration to the USB Type-C port through the simple addition of an STUSB16 companion chip to existing MCU-based designs, while minimising MCU-resource requirements compared to alternate solutions. Together these features simplify software development and reduce time-to-market while allowing customers to focus on their own added-value differentiators.