Inphi unveils first 800-gigabit PAM-4 signal processing chip

Inphi has detailed what it claims is the industry’s first digital signal processor (DSP) chip family for 800-gigabit client-side pluggable modules. 

Dubbed Spica, the 4-level pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM-4) DSP family is sampling and is in the hands of customers.

Source: Inphi

The physical-layer company has also announced its third-generation Porrima family of PAM-4 DSPs for 400-gigabit pluggables. 

The Porrima DSP with integrated laser driver has being made using a 7nm CMOS process; until now a 16nm CMOS has been used. Fabricating the chip using the more advanced process will reduce the power consumption of 400-gigabit module designs. 

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Open Eye MSA offers an alternative to PAM-4 DSPs

A group of companies, led by Macom and Semtech, have launched a multi-source agreement (MSA) to offer an alternative to using a digital signal processor (DSP) in high-speed client-side optical modules. 

The Open Eye MSA is developing a set of specifications for optical modules that use 50-gigabit 4-level pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM-4) signals whereby only analogue clock and data recovery (CDR) circuitry is required at the receiver.  

By using the CDR instead of a PAM-4 DSP, the optical module will consume less power, have lower latency and be less costly to make, says the MSA.

To ensure interoperability, however, module makers using a PAM-4 DSP will need to meet the new MSA specification. 

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