Sierra Monolithics, Inc. (Sierra Monolithics) has introduced a new fourth-generation 40G multiplexer with clock multiplier unit (CMU), SMI4027, and a demultiplexer with clock and data recovery (CDR), SMI4037. The new highly integrated devices include pre-coding circuitry for the long-reach applications and higher signal integrity. The new SMI4027 and SMI4037 devices allow all common modulation formats in 39.8Gbps to 44.6Gbps data range, and includes a fully SFI-5-compliant client-side interface.

The new devices use International Business Machines Corporation’s (IBM’s) new 8HP silicon germanium (SiGe) bipolar complementary metal oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS) process technology to attain significant power reductions when compared to previous SERDES product generations.

“The SMI4027 MUX/CMU and SMI4037 CDR/DEMUX represent an important milestone in the development of the 40G-and-beyond optical transmission market,” stated Taqi Mohiuddin, director of marketing with Sierra Monolithics. “It offers the size, cost and power profile for mainstream 40G system deployment, and helps deliver the system performance and transmission economics that carriers need in order to take the next big step in accommodating today’s explosive growth in network bandwidth consumption over the existing fiber infrastructure.”

The company is developing integrated circuits for various communications applications utilizing IBM’s new SiGe process technologies since 1996. The new 130-nanometer (nm) generation of IBM’s new SiGe process doubles performance of the previous generations and also develops power efficiency and integration. These process advances allow the SMI4027 to support various data rates from 39.8Gbps to 44.6Gbps while simultaneously including an on-chip, user-enabled differential phase shift keying (DPSK) precoder function. DPSK precoding is a vital requirement both for the long-reach applications and to offer the necessary resiliency against the signal impairments that are often encountered in the older fiber.

“In our 10/40/100G market study released last October, Infonetics reported that, despite the economic downturn, 40G was ramping rapidly, and 100G should begin soon and take off by 2013,” said principal analyst and co-founder of Infonetics, Michael Howard. “These technologies are critical for alleviating the tremendous strain due to datacenter growth and consolidation, and video applications on business, consumer broadband, and mobile networks. Components in the supply chain such as these new 40G mux and demux devices from Sierra Monolithics will play a key role in helping to ensure that growing traffic demands don’t outstrip network capacities. We expect 40G revenue to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 59 percent from 2007 to 2011.”

New Product Details:

The features of new SMI4027 and SMI4037 devices include ground-referenced high-speed differential output ports, high-speed differential clock outputs with low phase noise, and a SONET-compliant CMU with on-chip voltage controller oscillator (VCO). In addition, the devices incorporates two user-selectable reference clock input ports and reference clock clean-up loop circuitry. Rounding out the feature set for MUX are a phase detector on-chip dual-mode (PRWS) error checker and the pattern generator, a 512-bit arbitrary pattern generator, and SPI control interface that supports a broad range of logic families. The new SMI4037 demultiplexer has CDR and SONET-compliant clock jitter tolerance. The new devices operate from dual-power supply voltages of +1.2V or +1.8V and -2.8V, a combined low power consumption of just over 4 Watts typical (with high-speed clock outputs disabled) for the chipset.

The new SMI4027 device is scheduled to enter volume production in second quarter of 2009. It is packaged in a ball grid array (BGA) with the GPPO connectors.