High-speed innovations at DesignCon 2019

In addition, on January 31st at 2pm, TE technologists Nathan Tracy and Bruce Champion will present ‘Delivering 100 Gbps Solutions for Chip to Module (C2M) & Direct Attach Copper (DAC) Cable Implementations’. Efforts are underway to define 100 Gbps channels to support simpler, lower cost versions of 100G, 200G and 400G Ethernet as well as enable 800G Ethernet links. This presentation describes C2M and various DAC configurations to give concrete evidence on what system designers can expect going forward for 100 Gbps channels.

The presentation will include details of the analysed channel impairments that need to be addressed and some of the methodologies employed to develop a sound solution that can support these next-generation physical solutions for the channel, connectors and cables.

TE’s featured live demos in its booth will include:

800G OSFP passive copper cable link
The 112 Gbps DAC Cable link will demonstrate a live 112 Gbps PAM4 electrical signal running over two meters of passive copper cabling to include crosstalk aggressors. This channel will utilise a 112Gbps PAM-4 serialiser/deserialiser (SerDes) chip driving and receiving traffic through the Octal Small Form Factor Pluggable (OSPF) surface mount (OSFP SMT) connector which is a pluggable form factor with eight high speed electrical lanes.

This demonstration will highlight the connector’s ability to run each of these eight lanes at 112Gbps for a total aggregate data rate 896 Gbps per connector over two meters of copper cable. With the OSFP form factor capable of allowing a density of up to 32 ports per one rack-unit (RU) front panel, this technology can enable 28.6Tbps per 1RU.

112G cable enabled architectures
As data rates prepare to migrate to 100Gbps signalling, the insertion loss of a printed circuit board-based channel threatens standard equipment architectures. This demo showcases the technologies from TE that can enable 100G based architectures to be successful from signal integrity, thermal and packaging perspectives. 

Included in this demo are STRADA Whisper cabled backplane connectors, Sliver internal cable assemblies and OSFP direct attach copper (DAC) cable assemblies, all helping to realise typical 100G chip-to-chip, card-to-card and equipment-to-equipment based high speed connections. These TE products enable interconnecting links to provide necessary bit error rates (BERs) for 100G data that could be required for these demanding next-gen architectures.

56G large scale LGA socket
TE’s extra large array XLA socket series provides high speed ‘LGA contact’ signal performance. The growing size of large silicon packages has pushed the manufacturing of traditional plastic sockets beyond established molding limits. The XLA series is a hybrid LGA socket that solders directly to the motherboard. 

This hybrid socket technology utilises a PCB substrate carrier allowing for reliable attachment to the mother board. A key feature of the XLA technology is its ability to address extremely large packages, in excess of 100x100mm. This demonstration presents live 56G PAM4 signal performance over one channel with three aggressors.

QSFP-DD thermal bridge
The Quad Small Form Factor Pluggable Double Density (QSFP-DD) compressible thermal bridge demo presents a new technology for efficiently transferring heat across a gap of variable size, while controlling the force applied to surrounding components. The demo displays bridge and interface thermal resistances in real time, while allowing adjustment of the bridge height as heat is transferred between a pluggable module and heat sink.

32G sliver connector for drive link
This demonstration includes TE’s Sliver SFF SMT orthogonal connector with pre-standard PCIe Gen5 32G host-to-solid state drive (SSD) link demonstrates 32Gbps NRZ live traffic with zero errors over a 35dB loss channel with multiple crosstalk aggressors. The demo shows how TE’s Sliver connectors compliant with the SFF-TA-1002 specification can be utilised for EDSFF and SSD devices in server and storage appliances.

3m+ QSFP-DD 400G passive copper cable link 
The QSFP-DD DAC demo shows a passive copper cable assembly. The channel is running at 56Gb/s over more than three meters of passive copper cable with an acceptable bit error rate (BER). The Quad Small Form Factor Pluggable Double Density, or QSFP-DD, form factor has eight lanes providing an aggregate throughput of 448Gbps through a single cable assembly. The QSFP-DD interface is backwards compatible with QSFP, allowing several generations of QSFP modules to be plugged into the same interface. 

SFP-DD 100G PAM4 passive copper cable link
The Small Form Factor Pluggable Double Density (SFP-DD) passive direct attach copper (DAC) cable link demonstrates a live 56Gbps PAM4 electrical interface. This interface consists of two channels utilising a 56G PAM-4 SerDes chip driving and receiving traffic over a 28AWG SFP-DD direct attach copper (DAC) cable link. 

The data is transported through a Small Form Factor Pluggable Double Density Surface Mount (SFP-DD SMT) connector which is a pluggable form factor with two high speed electrical lanes. Offering backward compatibility to current SFP style interfaces, this demonstration highlights the SFP-DD connector and DAC’s ability to run each of these two lanes at 56Gbps for a total aggregate data rate of 112Gbps per connector, thus doubling the current limit of SFP style interfaces while also providing backwards compatibility with SFP DACs.

QSFP-DD 12.8T switch less than 15W thermal performance
The QSFP-DD thermal demo consists of a 1RU enclosure with 32 ports of the QSFP-DD 400Gbps input/output (I/O) populated with thermal emulator modules. The demo allows programmable control of airflow and per module power dissipation levels up to 15W, demonstrating realistic operation of a 12.8Tbps 1RU enclosure.

These products provide simple yet customisable designs that enable a standardised platform capable of efficiently distributing up to 500A of power per UL and CSA criteria, while offering improved electrical performance. Engineered solutions support multiple voltage requirements, low resistance and low milli-volt drop. Designers can realise operational and overall system cost savings with TE power products that support low energy consumption. These products are compatible with specifications for use in rack-level bus bar applications including power shelves, battery backup unit (BBU) shelves, IT trays and server sleds.

“As we move toward higher speeds in the data centre, equipment requires new approaches to connectivity and thermal management,” said Nathan Tracy, Technologist at TE Connectivity’s Data and Devices Business Unit and President of the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF). “Each year at DesignCon, TE demonstrates its industry leadership in developing new technologies and products for next-generation data centre and networking equipment, and we are proud to be showcasing our latest technical advances via functioning electrical, thermal and power demonstrations and displays at DesignCon 2019.”