Contact cleaning for differential communication systems
AssigneeSemiconductor Components Industries, LLC
InventorManuel Hortensia L Meyers
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A transceiver circuit that includes circuits for cleaning oxidation from input and output pins is disclosed. During a first phase of a cleaning operation, a first cleaner circuit may maintain floating input pins at a voltage level less than a cleaning voltage that is greater than an operating supply voltage. During a second phase of the cleaning operation, the first cleaner circuit may couple the input pins to a ground supply node. A second cleaner circuit may, during the first phase of the cleaning operation, couple the output pins to the cleaning voltage. During the second phase of the cleaning operation, the second cleaner circuit may source respective currents to the output pins.
Claims20
An apparatus, comprising:
- a logic circuit;
- a receiver circuit configured to:
- receive data via a plurality of receiver pins;
- and
- send received data to the logic circuit;
- and
- a first cleaner circuit configured, in response to an activation of a cleaning mode, to:
- maintain receiver pins of the plurality of receiver pins at respective voltage levels during a first phase of the cleaning mode, wherein the respective voltage levels are less than a cleaning voltage;
- and
- couple the plurality of receiver pins to a ground supply node during a second phase of the cleaning mode.
A method, comprising:
- activating a cleaning mode for a transceiver circuit;
- maintaining, by the transceiver circuit, respective voltage levels of a plurality of receiver pins at corresponding voltage levels less than a cleaning voltage during a first phase of the cleaning mode;
- and
- coupling, by the transceiver circuit, the plurality of receiver pins to a ground supply node during a second phase of the cleaning mode, wherein the second phase of the cleaning mode is subsequent to the first phase of the cleaning mode.
An apparatus, comprising:
- a logic circuit;
- a receiver cleaner circuit configured to:
- receive data via a plurality of receiver pins;
- and
- send received data to the logic circuit;
- and
- in response to an activation of a cleaning mode, to:
- maintain the receiver pins at respective voltage levels during a first phase of the cleaning mode, wherein the respective voltage levels are less than a cleaning voltage;
- and
- couple the receiver pins to a ground supply node during a second phase of the cleaning mode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.