The USB4 specification was published in September 2019 with promises of up to 40 Gbps data transfer rate over a Thunderbolt physical layer, and last December, we reported about an MCCI USB4 switch designed to test and design USB4 products.
Cypress Semiconductor EZ-PD CCG6DF and CCG6SF dual-port and single-port USB-C and USB PD 3.0 controllers designed for PCs and notebooks that will be compatible with USB4 standard.
EZ-PD CCG6DF and CCG6SF key features:
- MCU Subsystem – Arm Cortex-M0 core @ 48 MHz with 64KB flash, 96KB SROM, 16KB SRAM
- USB Type-C and Power Delivery 3.0 supporting USB3 and USB4, Thunderbolt, DisplayPort Alternate Mode platforms
- Digital I/Os
- Two timers, counters, PWMs, and up to 23 GPIOs
- Four SCBs (Serial Communication Blocks) for configurable master/slave I2C, SPI or UART
- Analog Blocks
- VBUS Provider Load switch (5V/3A)
- Slew rate controlled turn-on on VBUS path
- UAB PD 3.0 Fast Role Swap support
- Integrated high-voltage 20V-regulator
- SBU Pass through, USB analog mux
- VBUS-to-CC short protection, VBUS-to-SBU short protection
- VCONN FETs
- System-Level Fault Protection
- Over-current, Over-voltage, Under-voltage, Reverse-current and Short-circuit protection on VBUS provider path
- VCONN over-current protection
- Thermal Shutdown
- Packages – CCG6DF: 96-BGA (6×6 mm); CCG6SF: 48-QFN (6×6 mm)
The CCG6DF and CCG6SF USB-C + USB PD controllers are already sampling to selected partners, and are expected to be in volume production in early Q3 2020. You may find a few more details in the press release and product page which includes a datasheet.
Thanks to TLS for the tip.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress
These don’t look like actual usb4 host controllers.
The press release is a little odd, as it reads “The latest Cypress EZ-PD controllers will also support the new USB4 standard as well as the latest Intel Thunderbolt platforms”.
Does that mean those are designed to work with future USB4 controllers? I think I get it…
I think the press release has been initially written that way so it gets attention. I thought it meant a host controller too but I couldn’t match that up with the block diagram.
It seems to be limited to 20Gbps, but it will apparently be firmware upgradable to USB 4 when it arrives. Right now, it’s only USB 3.2 20Gbps, which is still pretty good, as it’s only the second standalone 20Gbps controller to hit the market.
Apparently the other unique thing about these parts is that they integrate the VBUS Provider Load switch, so less external components are needed.
The Application Diagrams in the Datasheet all show the data lines of the USB-C connector routed straight to an external “Thunderbolt Controller / SoC”, no involvement of this chip in the data path at all (though it will switch an internal analog MUX between the two sets of old-style USB D+/D- pairs to allow for the reversible plug feature of USB-C, but it just routes the D+/D- out as an analog signal for you to connect to a USB2 host controller). It really is purely a “USB-C” controller, as in USB3/USB4 is complicated enough to require a separate controller just to manage a physical socket and cable (and also negotiation of power delivery over the special CC lines), with another controller (or two) required to deal with the actual “USB” data communication itself.
So it’s not too surprising that it would be expected to be upgradeable to support USB4, since the limited areas of the standard this chip supports are probably pretty similar.
I really want a USB4 docking-station now so that I can dock different USB3 and Thunderbolt3 compatible laptops without converters or separate power-adapter. As I understand it a USB4 docking-station would solve that issue as they should have combined USB-C ports that fully backwards compatible with both USB3 and Thunderbolt3, right?
Wife and I time-share a desk at home and we have different laptops, hers has a USB3 ports which do support charging over USB-C port (which is not Thunderbolt3 compatible) and mine has a Thunderbolt3 which also support charging over a USB-C port but require that the docing station to be Thunderbolt3 compatible.
It’s supposed to be backwards compatible with both standards, but I guess we’re just going to have to wait and see how well that works in practice.
whats the difference between USB4 and TB3?
USB4 is based on the Thunderbolt 3 protocol specification however is also fully compatible with all previous USB 3.x and USB 2.x standards/versions. USB4 is as such basically combination of the Thunderbolt 3 standard and the USB 3.2 standard, including backwards-compatibility. Meaning that chip and port should support all Thunderbolt 3 devices and all USB devices using the same USB-C port. See wikipedia for more USB4 specs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#USB4
So you can really say that the difference between USB4 and TB3 is that a USB4 host/hub will support all TB3 devices as well as all USB4, USB3 and USB2 devices, but all a TB3 host/hub is not compatible with any USB devices at all.