DECEMBER 6, 2006 -- Pulse, a Technitrol Company, has introduced a new line of 10-Gbit/sec small-form-factor pluggable (XFP) modules for use with 10-Gbit hot pluggable optical transceiver modules.
The cage and connector comply with the Multi-source Agreement 3.0 (MSA 3.0) standard and support OC-192/STM-64, 10-Gigabit Fibre Channel, G.709, and 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10-GbE) protocols in applications such as blade servers, routers, add-drop multiplexers, and in remote base stations and central office (CO) equipment. They supply enhanced electromagnetic interference (EMI) protection for 10-GbE applications.
Pulse's XFP001/2/3-L series cages support three different heat sink profiles. The company says its in-house tooling workshop can customize the heat sink profile, allowing designers to configure their printed circuit board (PCB) architecture to maximize the heat dissipation of the heat sink when the air flow over the heat sink is restricted due to the location of the cage and connector within the application.
The standard 1x1 cage measures 21.7- x 65.3- x 13.2-mm. It comes with a clip and heat sink. Heat sinks come in three interchangeable height profiles; the XFP001-L is 13.5 mm, the XFP002-L is 6.5 mm, and the XFP003-L is 4.2 mm. The external clip attaches to the top of the heat sink and the cage, holding it in place and maintaining a solid mechanical contact between the optical transceiver and heat sink, thus assuring minimal thermal resistance and maximum heat dissipation properties without degrading EMI performance, say company representatives. The cage, which is made of nickel-plated copper alloy to prevent oxidation, will not deform during press fitting.
The XFP001/2/3-L has an insulating barrier underneath the main body of the cage to prevent PCB signal traces from shorting to the underside of the cage. To enhance EMI performance, a conductive gasket is located at the back of the cage to improve the electrical conductivity between the cage and the optical transceiver, says Pulse. A series of EMI ground contact points are placed around the opening of the cage to prevent noise escaping through the front aspect of the cage gap between the optical transceiver and the cage wall. To further enhance the screening around the connectors, a series of flexible metal contacts are used to ground the cage to the PCB, thus surrounding the connector with an effective Faraday cage to provide maximum EMI protection. A gasket is placed between the rear surface of the cage and the PCB to further seal the cage and PCB together.
The XFP001/2/3-L series is versatile and can handle optical transceiver links as well as transceivers configured to operate as traditional copper RJ45 connectors, so the series can be configured to each company's internal networking requirements for balancing load and bandwidth, say Pulse representatives. The package has been tested to 750 cycles minimum. The connector's surface mount pins support 0.004-in co-planarity between pins. Contacts are selectively plated to 30-micron gold. The system is RoHS compliant.
The price for the XFP001/2/3-L cage, clip, and heat sink unit is $25, $26, or $27, depending on order configuration and shipping destination, for quantities of 1,000. The price for the XFP connector E81N0-YCUDF4-L is $5.00; this connector is compatible with all cages. The cage, clip, and heat sink can be purchased assembled with the connector, providing a tested system that is board-ready and can be connected to the transceiver.