The-Linh Nguyen

Techno-Economic Comparison of Silicon Photonics and Multimode VCSELs

We compare Silicon Photonics and multi-mode short wavelength VCSEL technologies for various optical interconnect applications using addressable volume, relative cost, transmission reach, power consumption, and bandwidth-density as metrics.

100GbE- Optical LAN Technologies [Applications & Practice]

This article discusses optical and IC technologies feasible for use in the development of LAN interfaces based on future IEEE 100-gigabit Ethernet SMF and MMF standards. SMF approaches using 10-Gb/s and 25-Gb/s WDM, and DWDM WAN technologies are outlined, with the 25-Gb/s approach examined in detail. The MMF approach using 10-Gb/s parallel optics technology is also examined in detail. Future technologies required for high-volume, low-cost 100 Gb/s are previewed.

Circuit Design Techniques For High Bit Rate and High Density Optical Interconnects

High density and high bit rate optical interconnects require higher level of integration and complexity. These solutions require circuits design techniques that result in low power and low crosstalk penalty which will be discussed in this paper.

A quad 25Gb/s 270mW TIA in 0.13µm BiCMOS with <0.15dB crosstalk penalty

The push for 100Gb/s optical transport and beyond necessitates electronic components at higher speed and integration level in order to drive down cost, complexity and size of transceivers [1-2]. This requires parallel multi-channel optical transceivers each operating at 25Gb/s and beyond. Due to variations in the output power of transmitters and in some cases different optical paths the parallel receivers have to operate at different input optical power levels. This trend places increasing strain to the acceptable inter-channel crosstalk in integrated multi-channel receivers [3]. Minimizing this cross-talk penalty when all channels are operational is becoming increasingly important in ultra-high throughput optical links.

A duplex 10 Gb/s serial active optical cable for short-reach applications

Optical links offer many advantages over copper based solutions for 10 Gb/s interconnects, including lighter weight, longer reach and lower power consumption. Copper solutions are either very bulky and of limited reach (10GBASE-CX4) or have high power dissipation (>10W for a 10GBASE-T link). Previous optical solutions for high-volume, short interconnects have been limited by cost and connector cleanliness considerations. In this paper, we describe a duplex active optical cable which overcomes these limitations. Active optical cables not only retain the advantages of optical links with the external characteristics of an electrical cable, but provide additional advantages in performance and yield by eliminating the extra link margins inherent in open optical link standards. A new electrical connector is described which provides excellent return loss performance, high density and a rugged, consumer friendly design. Performance results for 15m graded index plastic optical fiber and 100m multimode glass fiber based cables are reported. Low jitter contribution and power dissipation of ~1W per link are achieved. Finally the design and performance of adapters allowing the use of this cable in present SFP+ and XFP transceiver systems is presented.