Xignal Technologies introduces 10Gbps-CMOS transceiver design with smallest footprint in industry

Fiber Optics Weekly Update, Sept 17, 2004

Xignal Technologies AG, an analog solutions provider for the communications semiconductor industry, recently announced the release of its new 10Gbps CMOS XFI transceiver design. The product, which has the smallest active area foot print in the industry (4[mm.sup.2]), has ultra-low power consumption of only 350mW, and exceeds XFP Rev. 4.0 jitter requirements. The XT38720 is suitable for applications of 10Gbps copper connections and 10-Gigabit Ethernet, as well as 10-Gigabit Fibre Channel.

The Xignal XT38720 is an XFI-compliant ASIP (Application Specific Intellectual Product) CMOS transceiver that serializes/de-serializes (SERDES) 32 input data streams to a single output data stream and vice versa. The high-speed serial inputs and outputs are compliant to the XFI interface defined in the XFP (10-Gigabit Small Form Factor Pluggable Module) specifications, Revision 4.0 (April, 2004). Due to an integrated, selectable, limiting amplifier, the IP (Intellectual Product) product can also be used as a standard serial 10Gbps fiber optic interface, representing thereby a complete signal conditioner IC for XFP fiber optic modules.

The XT38720 is a fully integrated transceiver with an on-chip clean-up PLL, which only needs a simple external RC-filter to be connected to the device. A selectable pre-emphasis ensures optimum signal integrity over FR-4 grade PCB material. The leading-edge 0.13 [micro]m CMOS technology and the sophisticated design guarantee high-performance at very low power consumption. The XT38720 10Gbps transceiver is suitable for data rates from 9.95Gbps to 10.7Gbps.

"With the XT38720, Xignal continues to develop leading-edge, highly sophisticated analog designs," said Holger Hoeltke, Vice President of Marketing at Xignal. "With its unprecedented small size, its low power and its CMOS nature the device may readily be integrated in System-on-Chip environments suitable for 10Gbps copper links, 10-Gigabit Ethernet and 10-Gigabit Fibre Channel connections."

For more information, please visit www.xignal.com