News Article
OneChip shows off its new 40 and 100GBASE InP PIC receiver chips
These indium phosphide chips should enable transceiver manufacturers to address short and intermediate reach, long-wavelength data communications applications more cost-effectively and efficiently than ever before
In the second half of this year, OneChip Photonics will make available engineering samples of its Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC)-based 40GBASE-LR4 and 100GBASE-LR4 receiver chips for partner testing.
OneChip’s 100GBASE-LR4 integrated receiver, which includes a spot-size converted input optical port, an AWG (Arrayed Waveguide Grating) wavelength division multiplexer and 4x25Gbps WPDs (Waveguide PhotoDetectors) at its four output electrical ports
These PIC-based receiver chips, monolithically integrated onto a single InP-based chip, all have the active and passive optical components required to receive 40GBASE-LR4 or 100GBASE-LR4 signals .
They are suited to transceiver manufacturers to address a wide reach range (up to 10km), long-wavelength (around 1300 nm) and data communications applications, including high-density interfaces for next-generation data centre interconnects (NG DCI). OneChip says these chips are far more cost-effective and efficient than other competing devices.
“OneChip’s breakthrough PIC technology has proven to be a valuable solution for the very cost-sensitive, high-volume Fibre-to-the-Home market, and we now are extending that technology to the data communications market,” says Valery Tolstikhin, Founder and CTO of OneChip Photonics.
“By offering fully integrated receiver and transmitter PICs, we are demonstrating that InP-based wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) components can meet very aggressive cost and footprint points in the data communications market, overall, and in NG DCI applications, in particular.”
Karen Liu, Principal Analyst for Components at market research firm Ovum, adds, “The industry is in the midst of switching gears from raw device speed to photonic integration, as optical interconnect speeds reach 40Gbps, 100Gbps and beyond. PIC chips like OneChip’s offering will be critical to enable the required cost and density for transceiver and system solutions addressing exploding communications needs in a wide variety of applications.”
OneChip also expects to make engineering samples of its 40GBASE-LR4 transmitter optical components and 100GBASE-LR4 single-chip transmitter PICs available around the end of the year, after the release of its PIC-based receiver chips.
The 40GBASE-LR4 transmitter components will include spot-size converted DFB directly modulated lasers at 1271, 1291, 1311, and 1331 nm wavelengths, with integrated monitor photodiodes. The 100GBASE-LR4 transmitter PICs will integrate 4 DFB-EAM externally modulated lasers operating in the 1300 nm window on 800GHz spacing at 25Gbps each, monitor diodes, a WDM combiner, and spot size converter on a single chip.
OneChip says its PIC-based 40GBASE-LR4 and 100GBASE-LR4 integrated receiver chips will cost significantly less to package and manufacture than competing hybrid integration and silicon photonics products, and the chips will have the smallest footprint on the market. OneChip anticipates these PICs will enable LR4 transceivers cost effective enough to be used at short and intermediate range applications in the data centre.
