TI, Hitachi exchange logic specs

Electronic News, Nov 23, 1992 by Stuart Zipper

DALLAS -- Texas Instruments and Hitachi agreed to a common set of specifications for 0.8-micron, low-voltage BiC-MOS and CMOS bus interface logic families.

The two firms are targeting the market now held by 5V logic, including the FACT/AC, FCT, and 74F families. They cited National Semiconductor, Integrated Device Technology, Quality Semiconductor and Toshiba as companies from whom they hope to shave market share.

The agreement calls for each firm to independently design 8-and 16-bit bus oriented circuits, including various buffers and transceivers. Although internally unique, the parts from both companies will be essentially identical in packaging, pinout, function, and electrical specs, allowing customers to buy from either firm on an alternate source basis. TI was specified as prime source for sales in the U.S. and Hitachi as second source, with the reverse situation in Japan, and the two serving as alternate sources for the rest of the world.

Also included is a relabeling agreement under which either firm can sell the other's parts--expected to last no more than one or two quarters in cases where one comes to market with a given part first. While most of the parts covered by the arrangement are still to be designed, some are already either in sampling or on the market.

"It turned out TI had already been working on developing the LVT separately, and Hitachi had already independently begun development of the 3V CMOS," said Peter Hartshorn, Hitachi marketing manager for linear logic and discrete products. TI and Hitachi signed a similar alternate source deal covering the 5V ABT family last April, leading to the latest deal.

TI parts already in production, and whose designs Hitachi now will match, include a half-dozen BiCMOS circuits in the 74LVT series. Another four are scheduled for release over the next quarter. Hitachi's own first parts meeting LVT specs are scheduled to be ready for sampling by 1Q93, although any production volumes it ships early in the quarter are expected to be relabled TI silicon. About 20 parts are planned for the LVT family--targeted at high-end applications such as workstations and telecom equipment. About half are to be 8-bit wide, and the others widebus 16-bits or 18-bits.

Hitachi just began sampling the first 3.3V CMOS part in what will be the LVC family, the '245 bidirectional transceiver, with several more scheduled for 1Q93 release. TI versions of those parts are expected to start reaching the market in 2Q93. In total, there are expected to be about 30 circuits developed for the LVC family by mid-1993, aimed largely at laptop computers and other battery-operated devices.

LVC/LVT series specs include a source current voltage range of 2.7V to 3.6V, with the LVC having a pure 3.3V interface and the LVT allowing mixed mode 5V/3V input voltages. TI 74LVT family parts already in production include the '244 octal/line driver, '245 octal bus transceiver, '646 octal registered transceiver, '16244 wide-bus buffer/line driver, '6245 bus transceiver and '16500 universal bus transceiver. In addition to the Hitachi bidirectional transceiver just beginning to sample, LVC family plans include functions ranging from gates to flip-flops and counters through advanced octal bus interface and widebus buffer/driver/transceiver functions.