Hello team,
I received questions from the customer.
1. Sorry for the rudimentary question, but could you please tell me the role of the equalizer in a SATA re-driver?
2. The customer did not understand the meaning of the wiring lengths in Figure 2 of the datasheet. What does 16-in,4-mil + 2-in,9.5-mil mean?
3. In 9.2.4.1 of the datasheet there is a waveform for TP4, is the Trace Length the length of TP3 to TP4?
4. 9.3.1 describes AC coupling capacitors, is a capacitor required before the input/output pins of the re-driver even if it is used only with SATA?
5. Is it correct to recognize that the De-emphasis and Equalization settings should be checked while debugging?
6. Will the re-driver be less effective if the SATA SW is passed through in the middle? Is it necessary to take this into consideration when placing the device?
7. Regarding the SATA TX signal n with the chipset as HOST, which is the customer's specification, the following four patterns are assumed.
Pattern 1 is to connect to the SATA connector at 242mm via SATA SW twice.
Pattern 2 connects to the RAID IC at 223mm via SATA SW once.
Pattern 3 connects to the RAID IC at 225mm via SATA SW once.
Pattern 4 connects to the SATA connector at 338mm via SATA SW twice.
7-1. Is it appropriate to place it right after the PCIe connector?
7-2. Pattern 4 will have a very long route (338mm), will using two re-drivers be effective? Also, are there any adverse effects of using multiple re-drivers?
8. Will the effect of the re-driver be reduced if the SATA SW is passed along the way? If so, is it necessary to take this into consideration when placing the re-driver?
Please let me know if you need any additional information so that I can check with the customer.
Regards,
Masa