National Semiconductor is offering a quad multipoint-low-voltage differential signalling (M-LVDS) transceiver designed for backplane clock distribution in Advanced TCA and MicroTCA line cards.

The DS91M040 transceiver, which is compliant with the EIA/TIA-899 M-LVDS standard, drives and receives clock and data signals in multipoint network applications supporting up to four networks simultaneously. It can manage as many as 32 loads at clock frequencies up to 125MHz and data transfers up to 250Mbit/s.

The transceiver addresses multipoint and multidrop clock and data distribution applications where a common bus connects multiple drivers and receivers.

Its signal edges have 2ns typical rise and fall times, which are steep enough to minimise signal reflections due to unterminated backplane stubs.

A feedback-controlled output provides constant amplitude regardless of whether the backplane is fully loaded or populated with a single card. 

The DS91M040 also includes pin-control of the M-LVDS receiver, which allows designers to enable a receiver failsafe or provide no failsafe depending on the application. 

The DS91M040 is offered in a 5x5mm, 32-pin LLP package.