JANUARY 14, 2010 -- Germany optical components developer VI Systems GmbH says it has successfully completed a project to develop serial 40-Gbps fiber-coupled small form-factor TO-can receiver and transmitter modules, including several related electro-optic components. VI Systems was part of a consortium funded by IBB, a major Berlin bank.
The research consortium also included a European GaAs epi-wafer foundry, a foundry for silicon-germanium-based BiCMOS integrated circuits, a high-volume manufacturing partner with expertise in flip-chip and wire bonding process steps, and the German technical universities of Berlin (TUB) and Dresden (TUD).
The consortium developed and prototyped ICs for current or electro-optically modulated lasers and limiting transimpedance amplifier ICs for the photodiodes. A high-frequency (40 GHz) transmitter and receiver packaging based on the proprietary integrated-packaging approach of VI Systems for flip-chip and wirebond sub-assemblies was completed as well.
The devices demonstrated error-free data bit transmission over multimode fiber at 40 Gbps, according to VI Systems. The power consumption of the receiver and transmitter modules is below 150 mW allowing integration into standard commercial SFP (small form-factor pluggable) transceivers. Additionally the small size (less than 6 mm x 6 mm) and the power consumption levels of the new prototype modules will enable their integration into QSFP (quad small form-factor pluggable) transceivers with SerDes ICs, all at an expected power consumption of 3 W per module, the company adds. The production of both singlemode and multimode fiber versions of the QSFP transceiver is possible.
The project and follow-on involvement of an industrial partner will enable scalable mass production at a low cost, VI Systems asserts. Active optical cable (AOC) applications and IEEE 802.3bg standard extensions towards low cost low power applications can be targeted for follow-on product exploitation, the company concludes.
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