In the communication of signals between devices or elements, a driver is used to drive a signal on an interface between the devices or elements. For example, a driver may be required for driving signals in a high-speed memory interface and similar processes.
An interface may include one or more single-wire connections, and single-ended driver may thus drive a signal on the single-wire connection. A single-wire connection may include, for example, a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) interface.
However, conventional single-ended drivers have limitations that make then problematic in low power operations. Limitations of existing drivers may include excessive power dissipation; differential structures with double the speed requirements; lack of flexibility in termination; lack of flexibility for voltage swings; an absolute relation between supply and voltage swings; a requirement for a voltage regulator with large decoupling caps; and limited data rates.
The use of existing single-ended drivers in implementations such as mobile interfaces will suffer from the above limitations. Efforts have been made in conventional devices to mitigate certain of these limitations. However, conventional solutions generally create tradeoffs with others of these limitations, and thus do not provide effective designs for future technologies.