Very Low-Swing Differential Signaling

Summary

Very Low-Swing Differential Signaling (VLSD) is a bi-directional, ground-referenced, differential signaling technology which offers a high-performance, low-power, and cost-effective solution for applications requiring extraordinary bandwidth and superior power efficiency. VLSD signals are point-to-point and use an ultra-low 100mV signal swing (50 to 150mV) and 100mV common-mode voltage which results in a 200mV peak-to-peak differential signal swing. This swing is less than 1/10 the signaling swing of commodity memory interfaces. VLSD enables high data rates with very low IO power consumption.

Commercial and Performance Benefits

• VLSD enables high-speed operation in a memory system through the robust signaling characteristics inherent to differential signaling.
• VLSD minimizes active IO power consumption through the use of a ground-referenced low-voltage-swing signaling system.

VLSD is an element of the Rambus Mobile Memory initiative. The Mobile Memory initiative is driving the development of signaling technologies needed for future mobile memory architectures capable of delivering over 17GB/s of memory bandwidth with best-in-class power efficiency from a single DRAM device.