400 Gbps IEEE Ethernet, Backplane Cable Assembly Demonstration
Ralph Page, Active Systems Manager at Samtec, and Alex Nazari of Credo Semiconductors, walk us through this combined Credo/Samtec 400 Gbps IEEE Ethernet over Backplane Cable Assembly demonstration. It provides an ideal proof-of-concept for long reach signals over cabled backplanes.
This demonstration was first presented at DesignCon 2018 in Santa Clara, CA.
Eight ports of 50+ Gbps PAM4 data are sourced from the Credo 50 Gbps-PAM4 CDRS. The signals route through RF jumpers to a test paddleboard made of Isola Tachyon laminate material. Next, they pass through a Samtec ExaMAX® high speed backplane connector.
![](https://blog.samtec.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/52337-H3C-cutaway_CableUpdated_WEB-2-300x254.jpg)
This is connected to a prototype ExaMAX Backplane Cable Assembly set-up in a 4×10 configuration. This prototype cable is the EBCM series. The backplane cable connects another backplane connector on a second test paddleboard, also made Isola Tachyon laminate material.
The signal path routes though a second set of high-performance RF jumpers back to the Credo CDRs.
Results
At the end we see the channel output. The 6.90e-09 BER is a strong PAM4 result, especially considering the demonstration was conducted with a prototype backplane cable assembly. The BER will improve beyond that with the introduction of full-production quality cable assemblies.
The results from this combined Credo/Samtec 400 Gbps IEEE Ethernet over Backplane Cable Assembly demonstration provide an ideal proof-of-concept for long reach signals over cabled backplanes.
These Credo 400 Gbps products support up to 8 lanes of CDR, each running at rates of up to 50 Gbps-PAM4. Samtec’s ExaMAX backplane cable assemblies break the constraints of traditional backplane designs resulting in a cost-effective, high-performance answer to the challenges of 50 Gbps-PAM4 bandwidths.
For more information about the prototype ExaMAX backplane cable assembly, see pages 10-11 of the High Speed Cable Interconnect Solution Guide.
For more information on this demo, contact signal integrity team at [email protected].