M-PHY vs D-PHY vs C-PHY-Difference between M-PHY D-PHY C-PHY

M-PHY vs D-PHY vs C-PHY | Difference between M-PHY D-PHY C-PHY

This page compares MIPI M-PHY vs D-PHY vs C-PHY and mentions difference between M-PHY, D-PHY and C-PHY MIPI versions.

Introduction : MIPI Alliance group of companies have published various specifications which include C-PHY, D-PHY and M-PHY Physical layer interfaces. Devices such as camera, display, storage and RFIC interfaces use these PHY layers.

All of these PHY layers support low power, low pin count and minimize interference. M-PHY provides support for optical interconnects. The key benefits of these PHY interfaces are high performance, high bandwidth, high scalability and unprecedented flexibility.

Parameters	M-PHY (as per V3.1)	D-PHY (as per V1.2)	C-PHY (as per V1.0)
Clocking scheme	Embedded clock, clock is embedded in the data packet	DDR source synchronous clock	Embedded clock
Direction	Bidirectional	Unidirectional streaming interface	Unidirectional
Configuration	1 lane per direction, dual simplex, 2 pins each (4 total)	1 lane plus clock, simplex, 4 pins	1 lane (trio), simplex, 3 pins
Data rate per lane (HS mode)	1.25/1.45 Gb/s (HS-G1) 2.5/2.9 Gb/s (HS-G2) 5/5.8 Gb/s (HS-G3)	80 Mbps to 2.5 Gbps (Aggregate)	5.7 Gbps (Maximum, Aggregate)
Bandwidth per port (3 or 4 lanes)	~ 4 to 18.6 Gb/s (Aggregate BW)	Max. ~ 10 Gbps per 4 lane port (Aggregate)	Max. ~ 17.1 Gbps per 3 lane port (Aggregate)
Channel compensation	Equalization	Data skew control relative to clock	Encoding to reduce data toggle rate
Maximum transmitter swing amplitude	SA : 250 mV (Peak), LA : 500 mV (peak)	LP : 1300 mV (Peak), HS : 360 mV (peak)	LP : 1300 mV (Peak), HS : 425 mV (peak)
Symbol coding	8B10B	None	Uses encoded data to pack 16/7 i.e. 2.28 bits/symbol over 3-wire trios , Uses 7 symbol to 16 bit mapping