MACOM Announces 400Gbps Chipset for Short-Distance Optical Connectivity Applications

MACOM's four-channel VCSEL driver (MALD-38435) and TIA (MATA-38434) complement the existing four-channel CDR to enable a complete interoperability solution
Full analog solution with high performance, low power consumption, and low cost
MACOM to Showcase 400Gbps Chipset Solutions with Dust Photonics at Booth #2613 at OFC 2018

MACOM Technology Solutions Inc. ("MACOM") today announced the availability of a four-channel 56 Gb/s PAM-4 VCSEL driver (MALD-38435) for VCSEL-based short-range optical modules and active optical cable (AOC) applications Sample of a four-channel transimpedance amplifier (TIA) (MATA-38434) device. These new devices complement previously released transmit and receive clock data recovery (CDR) devices, enabling complete transmit and receive solutions. For MACOM chipset solutions, the data rate per channel is as high as 56 Gb/s PAM-4 (28GBbaud PAM-4), enabling short-range (up to 100m) for 200G QSFP and 400G QSFP-DD and OSFP applications ) Optical module.

With 100G connectivity requirements evolving to 200G and 400G, optical module vendors are looking for cloud data centers and high-performance computing (HPC) clusters that use small-sized, low-power, and low-cost optical connectivity solutions. MACOM's all-analog chipset solution uses the MALD-38435 driver and the MATA-38434 TIA, as well as the existing MASC-38040 and MAOM-38051/38053 CDR devices, to provide customers with the best combination of high performance, low power, and low cost. MACOM's solutions achieve best-in-class low latency with full analog circuitry instead of digital signal processing, which is especially important for high-performance computing applications.

The MALD-38435 driver and MATA-38434 device are available as chip-scale solutions (channel spacing 250um), which is ideal for direct bonding to VCSEL lasers and photodetectors. These devices support independent channel control through the I2C interface and can be flexibly managed by the module's local control chip. These devices have low power consumption and small die size and can be implemented in QSFP and QSFP-DD modules. They also have low jitter performance, enabling 1E-15 low bit error rate (BER) and FEC protection links. Used in conjunction with MACOM's CDR, this solution provides rich channel-by-channel equalization and eye shape programmable functionality, as well as PRBS generator, checker, and eye monitor functionality.

"After the success of the 100Gbps chipset for short-range applications, MACOM is pleased to introduce a new generation of devices targeting 400Gbps QSFP-DD and OSFP modules," said Marek Tlalka, MACOM's senior marketing director of high-performance analog products. "Using our analog circuit technology, we can offer a complete chipset for high-performance, short-range optical interconnects with low power, low cost, and low latency, which is critical for cloud computing and HPC applications."

MACOM will demonstrate the new chipset solution at OFC 2018 with Dust Photonics' QSFP-DD module.

"We are very pleased to be able to demonstrate the industry-leading 400G QSFP-DD-SR8 short-range module using the MACOM chipset," said Ben Rubovitch, CEO of Dust Photonics. "MACOM's fully interoperable solutions and strong technical support shorten our time to market. We look forward to extending our product portfolio to other optical modules and AOC applications."

Author：Brittany Antonia （The author of article owns the copyright.）