Inphi offers first OIF-compliant 100G coherent TIA and high-sensitivity 40G linear TIA

JANUARY 18, 2010 By Stephen Hardy -- Silicon electronics vendor Inphi Corp. says it will unveil a pair of transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs) for high-speed applications at Fiber Optics Expo (FOE) this week in Tokyo. Inphi asserts that the first device, the Inphi 2850TA, is the industry’s first OIF-compliant 100G coherent TIA. The company also will unwrap the Inphi 2251TA linear TIA for 40G DQPSK applications.

Engineering samples of both devices are available immediately, Inphi adds.

The Inphi 2850TA combines TIA variable gain amplifier functions in a single device for 100G coherent applications. The dual-channel device offers greater than 25 GHz bandwidth and less than 5 percent total harmonic distortion per channel, says Loi Nguyen, Inphi’s vice president, networking and communications products. It requires approximately 250 mW per channel, he adds.

The device will enable multiple levels of electronic dispersion compensation, while its high linearity will enable high-resolution analog-to-digital conversion, Nguyen adds.

Nguyen says the device is sampling with several receiver vendors. German optical components vendor u²t Photonics AG is one of them.

“u²t recognizes Inphi as one of the leading companies providing high speed TIAs,” said Andreas Umbach, CEO and co-founder at u²t. “We have worked closely with Inphi and have designed in their 100G coherent amplifier in our best-in-class optical receivers for 100G. Inphi’s commitment to develop the 2850TA helped us to develop a coherent receiver compliant to the rigorous OIF-standards.”

u²t showed off a prototype of the 100G coherent receiver at ECOC last September and announced the availability of samples today.


Meanwhile, Inphi’s surface-mount 2251TA TIA/VGA for 40G DQPSK provides a smaller form factor and lower power than previous TIA/VGA generations, Nguyen says. The fact that it is a linear amplifer rather than a limiting amplifier enables the use of electronic dispersion compensation, he says. The 2251TA also displays a dynamic range of -10 to 0 dBm.

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