Texas Instruments Incorporated
Low voltage feedforward current assist ethernet line driver

Abstract:

Described examples include Ethernet physical layer (PHY) interface integrated circuits with transmit interface circuitry for transmitting data to an Ethernet network through a magnetic interface, which includes a voltage mode first amplifier with an output that generates a first voltage signal from a supply voltage according to a data input signal. The transmit interface circuit also includes a feedforward second amplifier circuit with an output stage that operates in a first mode to generate a current signal from the supply voltage according to the first voltage signal and to provide the current signal to the first amplifier output to boost a peak voltage at the output above the supply voltage to facilitate support for higher peak signal voltage swings for 10Base-T applications while using 2.5 volt or other low voltage supply levels.