MaxLinear showcases 5nm CMOS 800G PAM4 DSP

MaxLinear will showcase a 5nm CMOS 800Gbps PAM4 DSP for data center applications at the virtual Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition (OFC) from June 6 to June 11, 2021. 

“With the exponential growth of data traffic within hyperscale cloud networks, the needed increase in interconnect bandwidth in those networks requires lower-power, higher-density optical modules that support higher lane rates,” said Drew Guckenberger, Vice President of Optical Interconnect at MaxLinear. “We are extremely excited to announce the availability of our Keystone family of 5nm CMOS PAM4 DSPs, specifically designed to address these requirements. With our third generation Keystone DSP design, and the power advantages of 5nm CMOS technology, we are directly addressing our customers’ critical needs for low power, highly integrated, high performance interconnect solutions in next generation hyperscale cloud networks.”

“We’re pleased to see the result of our collaboration with MaxLinear, a strategic technology partner of TSMC, in developing and manufacturing its leading PAM4 DSPs on TSMC’s 5nm technology to address the rapidly growing cloud datacenter network infrastructure market,” said Alex You, Vice President of Business Management, TSMC North America. “The Keystone family of SoCs are amongst the first radio-frequency mixed-signal digital SoCs leveraging TSMC’s 5nm CMOS process. The excellent power, seamless integration, and performance benchmarks set by Keystone are a testament to the advanced capabilities of our process technology, and also to MaxLinear’s design expertise in the most advanced processes.”

The new 800G DSP is part of MaxLinear’s new Keystone family of 5nm CMOS PAM4 DSPs. Keystone represents MaxLinear’s third generation of PAM4 DSPs for 400G/800G optical interconnects. This is the first generation to provide 106.25Gbps host side electrical I/O to match the line side 106.25Gbps interface rate. This is a crucial capability for next generation 25.6T switch interfaces.

The Keystone family’s host side interfaces support 25.78125/25.5625/53.125/106.25Gbps signaling per lane over C2M host channels. The line side interfaces also support the same rates and are targeted for 100G/λ DR, FR, and LR applications. All devices provide extensive DSP functionality, including line-side transmitter digital pre-distortion (DPD), transmit pre-emphasis (TX FIR), receiver feed forward equalization (FFE) and decision feedback equalization (DFE).

The Keystone family (MxL9364x, MxL9368x) includes both standalone DSPs and DSPs with monolithically integrated drivers that offer high-swing differential and single-ended output driver options to address both SiPh and EML direct drive applications. The following channel configurations are available in each case:

• 8x50G to 8x50G
• 8x50G to 4x100G
• 4x100G to 4x100G
• 8x100G to 8x100G

https://www.maxlinear.com/Company/press-releases/2021/MaxLinear-Showcases-Industry%E2%80%99s-First-5nm-CMOS-800G