MultiPhy completes metro direct-detect 100-Gbps chipset

MultiPhy Ltd. has introduced the MP1101Q 100G MUX Transmitter, which completes its mux/demux chipset for 100-Gbps metro applications using direct-detect modulation formats. The new transmitter multiplexer chip joins the company’s previously developed MP1100Q MLSE DMUX Receiver. MultiPhy will demonstrate the compatibility of the chipset with the Sumitomo Electric ELD5401QK series externally modulated laser (EML) at ECOC in Amsterdam September 17-19.

The MP1101Q was developed using 40-nm CMOS processes. It provides the 10:4 gearbox function needed for 100G optical transmission, complies to client-side interfaces such as CAUI and MLD, and supports standard 7% FEC overhead expansion rates. The MP1101Q is packaged in a 17x17-mm RoHS-compliant 1-mm ball pitch BGA.

MultiPhy has worked with several customers who have used the MP1100Q MLSE DMUX Receiver chip, which the company unveiled in September 2011 (see “MultiPhy offers 100G PHY IC for metro networks”). Those customers have wanted a companion multiplexer device, says Neal Neslusan, MultiPhy’s vice president of sales and marketing, and the company has now delivered.

The chips pair DSP technology and use of maximum likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE) electronic dispersion compensation to enable 100-Gbps transmission using 10-Gbps optical components. The chipset supports reaches up to 55 km (1100 ps/nm) using direct-detect 4x28-Gbps transmission.

The mux chip is currently sampling, and the chipset is available on evaluation boards. Neslusan says the full chipset should be production ready by very early next year. Meanwhile, integrating the two devices is on the company’s roadmap, Neslusan reveals.

The pairing of the chipset with the Sumitomo Electric EML is not a coincidence. Neslusan says that customers have specifically requested to see how well the chipset worked with that EML, which is proving to be a popular choice for non-tunable metro 100G requirements, particularly on Carrier Ethernet switch routers driving point-to-point links. Neslusan says that the company is working with both systems houses and module vendors.

“We are pleased MultiPhy has chosen to prove interoperation with the Sumitomo Electric ELD5401QK series EML. The significance of this announcement is that it demonstrates the viability of 40-km low-cost transmission at the 100G data rate,” said Manabu Yoshimura, general manager, Technology and Marketing Strategy Department at Sumitomo Electric Device Innovations, Inc. via a MultiPhy press release. “This demonstration paves the way for cost-competitive 100G transport which is required in the industry. The Sumitomo Electric ELD5401QK series EML can work well with the MultiPhy MP1100Q MLSE Receiver/DEMUX and MP1101Q MUX Chipset to provide a great solution.”

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