COBO, Silicon Photonics
Kevin Burt, Application Engineer at the Samtec Optical Group, walks us through a demonstration using silicon photonics and the COBO (Consortium of Onboard Optics) form factor. This was displayed at OFC 2018 in San Diego, California.
Samtec is a fabless integrator for optics. This means we have the choice of the right technology for engineers and designers, and their applications.
We can accomplish this with several different protocols, including Ethernet, Infiniband, Aurora (for the FPGA), PCIe, and protocols for modern videos.
The Demonstration
The silicon photonics, COBO demo has a 1550 nanometer silicon photonics chip. It’s x4, with each of the lanes capable of running 106 Gbps of data. This is done through 53 GBd, PAM4 modulation. The demo transmits from the module over 500 meters of fiber. The data is then split between a Keysight Sampling scope and the rest is going to the receiver. This demonstration shows an extremely high bandwidth over 500 meters with great performance.
Interconnect System
The interconnect is based on the Samtec two-connector FireFly™ solution, which allows easy insertion of the device. This two-piece design also benefits the designer because it does not incorporate compression hardware or screw-down mechanisms that require holes in the PCB.
This is one of the many interconnect product families that Samtec has developed (or is developing) for next generation systems. These systems push either signal path length, or data rate, or both, to meet next-generation applications and opportunities.
For more information please contact the Samtec Optical Group.
Other links that may be of interest:
- Samtec, FireFly™ Power+ Control Proposal Adopted By COBO
- COBO – Consortium For On Board Optics
- Samtec FireFly™
- QSFP-DD MSA Releases Latest Hardware Specification
- The Consortium for On-Board Optics (COBO) Announces Specification for Embedded Optical Modules
- Samtec High-Speed Board-to-Board Interconnects
- Samtec High-Speed Cable Assemblies
- High Speed Edge Card Interconnect Systems