Advanced optical interconnect portfolio for next-gen connected infrastructure

“Over the last several months, data centre, network, and telecom infrastructures have navigated significant increases in the demands and requirements placed on their systems, driven by increasing volumes of high-bandwidth data such as live and on-demand streamed content, the deployment of more AI-based systems, and a worldwide shift to the cloud as more consumers depend on connected systems for their work and daily life,” said Diwakar Vishakhadatta, Vice President of Optical Communication Products at Renesas.

“As cloud and networked services become a mission-critical factor in business’ and consumers’ daily lives, we have expanded our optical communications portfolio, adding elements of our leading microcontroller, timing, and power portfolios, to provide customers a one-stop mixed-signal IC solution with all of the elements they need to scale up for today’s systems and beyond.”

Customers can combine these optical communications series with a variety of Renesas microcontroller (MCU), power management, and timing devices for a solution that supplies all of the components customers need, from optical interconnect to MCU, making it easier and quicker to bring their telecom and data center systems applications to market.

Optical communications for datacom

As adoption of PAM4 technology increases in data centre and 5G, and link bandwidth transitions to 200G and 400G and beyond, demand is growing for PAM4-based solutions that are smaller and lower cost while maintaining low power and high reliability.

Featuring the CMOS-based PAM4 CDR solution, the new HXT14450 CDR with integrated VCSEL driver and the HXR14450 CDR with integrated TIA are designed for 200G and 400G links and are also ideally suited for short range (SR) and Active Optical Cable operation for data centres. The series features significantly lower power and smaller size compared with traditional DSP solutions, as well as higher integration - including an integrated MCU - to further simplify system design.

The series is certified for the -40°C to 85°C temperature range, making it suitable for optical communications links in 5G mid- and back-haul infrastructure.The standalone HXC44400 CDR is also available, and customers can combine it with Renesas DML drivers and TIAs to enable 200G long range links.

The lineup of high performance optical signal chain products also includes the HXT45411 family of EML drivers, HXT45430 Silicon-Photonics drivers, HXT44420 family of DML drivers and HXR45400 series TIAs for PAM4 deployments.

Optical communications for telecom

With increased demand from service providers, equipment manufacturers, and enterprise networks, network equipment is feeling the strain. Today’s telecom network and 5G infrastructure providers have expanded the deployment of coherent-based 400G equipment in the backbone, while datacentre operators have started to deploy the 400ZR standard defined by the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) to meet this need.

Renesas’ 64 GBaud GX76474 driver family and GX36420 series Coherent TIAs combine analog performance, low power, and high reliability with high bandwidth and configurability to support the telecom industry’s fastest growing segment - coherent optical communications. These new drivers and TIAs support all the key requirements to support the increased demands of longer range communication including:

• Up to 400Gbps of data speeds using industry-standard 64 GBaud modulation
• Scalable solutions for 32G, 45G, and 64G, enabling customers to optimise either for speed or for power and cost, and to adjust key parameters via Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI)

The GX76474 and GX36420 series also cover all the optical modulator technologies currently on the market, including Lithium Niobate, Indium Phosphide, and Silicon Photonics, as well as both the industry-standard Integrated Coherent Receiver (ICR) and Transmitter Receiver Optical Sub-Assembly (TROSA) configurations.

Renesas’ complete solution set of CDRs, drivers and TIAs is available now.