March 21, 2006 -- Chipidea Microelectronica, SA has introduced a new 210-MHz analog front-end (AFE) in 0.13µm CMOS technology. This AFE with only 2.75mm² is the most recent IP for high-end PC-Graphics applications. A similar AFE in 0.18µm CMOS has already been silicon proven. The IP was taped-out in a testchip to UMC, and is available upon request in other processes or lower technology nodes with no need for analog options.
The CI7724ul is a complete AFE interface for Video systems supporting analog interfaces as for flat panel displays, digital TV and Video projectors. It captures the analog RGB or YUV graphic signals generated on a PC or other device, and converts them into three 8-bit digital codes at a rate of up to 210MSPS. Besides the 4:4:4 output format, 4:2:2 is also supported. The AFE supports composite synchronism separation, as well as SOG extraction. The extracted HSYNC signal is used to internally generate a low jitter, programmable sampling clock suitable for all the common display resolutions and refresh ratios. The large analog input bandwidth and the programmable selection of the sampling clock phase ensures that each pixel is acquired when data is stable, thus ensuring the best image quality up to the highest video resolution. The AFE features 2:1 analog MUX input, programmable gain and offset control, configurable clamp (including midscale clamping) and internal bandgap reference to ease its integration in a system.
