GigOptix Inc of San Jose, CA, USA (a fabless supplier of analog semiconductor and optical communications components for fiber-optic and wireless networks) has announced its third-generation chipset for 100Gbps Ethernet data-center and cloud computing applications. The HXT8204 28Gbps 4-channel vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) driver array and HXR8204 28Gbps trans-impedance amplifier (TIA) receiver array enable the next generation of lower-power 100Gbps Ethernet SR4 module and active optical cable (AOC) solutions.
The HXR8204 four-channel receiver with integrated TIA provides 60μAPP input sensitivity at 28Gbps with 10-12 bit-error rate (BER), AGC and ATC, and a limiting post-amplifier stage. Linear, per channel RSSI outputs are provided to enable active alignment during manufacturing to yield optimum performance and manufacturability. The 1MHz I2C interface enables full control of additional functionality such as signal detect and squelch, pre-emphasis, maskable interrupt generation, internal temperature monitor selection, channel polarity inversion, and output voltage swing with enable.
The HXT8204 four-channel VCSEL driver supports modulation and average VCSEL currents up to 10mA with a dedicated burn-in capability up to 15mA average current. The 1MHz I2C interface enables full control of all driver functions including input equalization, output peaking and peaking duration, signal detect and squelch, channel polarity inversion, diagnostics such as average current and temperature monitoring as wells as user maskable interrupts and VCSEL voltage supervisory functions.
The datacom Ethernet market is expected to show a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 60% over the next seven years, according to LightCounting's 'Ethernet Transceivers Forecast – June 2014'. "Our third-generation solution enables a 20% typical reduction in power dissipation over our earlier chipset solutions without sacrificing performance or robustness," says datacom marketing director Tom Kapucija. "In addition, in certain applications such as active optical cables, we see up to 30% power reduction."
The HXT8204 and HXR8204 are sampling now and will ship in full production volumes in third-quarter 2015.
