Credo, Samtec 400 Gbps IEEE Ethernet Over Backplane Cable Assembly Demonstration
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.
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].
