SN65LVDS31: Will upstream power supply short circuits propagate through the device and damage the receiver/driver at the other end of the transmission line?

Hi Colin,

I'm assuming you mean some sort of Vcc short on the LVDS side:

The receivers are high impedance inputs, as long as you don't apply a bias voltage outside of the abs max for these devices it shouldn't damage them or cause any kind major issue like  a short to appear from their inputs into the TTL side. 

For the drivers, the equivalent circuit on in figure 9-1 shows them as FETs. So in the case where the Vcc of the driver is 3.3V and the short on the LVDS driver pin is 3.3V and the gate of the PFET is GND then the FET shouldn't backbias. It should be okay during this situation. 

If you are talking about a Vcc short on the TTL side:

The D pin of the driver is a high impedance input, do it shouldn't cause damage.

The R pin is an output pin, so it could see higher current sinking if Vcc shorted to it. I believe the FET for this would saturate and the current would get limited. This would probably result in higher heat build up and wouldn't be good for the device in the long term. 

-Bobby