Nanotech Semiconductor touts breakthrough in CMOS TIA design

DECEMBER 7, 2007 -- Nanotech Semiconductor Limited (search for Nanotech Semiconductor), a fabless IC company specializing in advanced Analog & Mixed-Signal ICs for fiber-based communications applications, today announced what it claims is a breakthrough in CMOS transimpedance amplifier (TIA) design.

Nanotech's new family of 2.5-Gbit and 10-Gbit TIAs offers at least 3-4 dB more sensitivity at each data rate vs. the best existing devices, which are typically in expensive SiGe processes, say company representatives.

The NT25L55 offers -33 dBm typically at 2.5 Gbits/sec, with a standard PIN diode, and with only 33-mA current consumption. The NT25L55 can therefore be used to replace APD-based devices in GPON networks, offering dramatic cost and power savings, contends Nanotech.

The NT28L50 and NT28L51 offer -25 dBm typically at 10 Gbits/sec, again with only 33-mA consumption. The NT28L50 is intended for upcoming SFP+ modules, while the NT28L51 is tailored to LRM applications. Nanotech believes that both ICs offer not only the highest performance in the world, but are also the world's first CMOS 10-Gbit/sec TIAs.

All ICs require a single 3.3-V supply and are pin-compatible with previous products. On-chip filtering means no capacitors are required inside the ROSA, offering both bill-of-materials (BOM) cost reduction and faster, lower cost assembly, says the company. Photodiode monitor source/sink and output polarity are both bond-programmable, offering complete build flexibility.

Alpha customers are being sought now, with production ramp-up expected early in 2008.

"Manufactured in standard 0.13-[micron] CMOS, at the world's largest wafer foundry, this new family of ICs offers customers exactly what they need in terms of reliability, short manufacturing lead-times, and CMOS pricing, in addition to the best performance ever seen," asserts Dr. Ya Nong Ning, Nanotech's marketing director for GOF products.

"One of the most interesting things about this latest architectural breakthrough is that it builds upon the company's earlier solutions to the challenges in the Plastic Optical Fiber (POF) world," adds CEO Gary Steele. "Not only does this new architecture offer both higher sensitivity and lower power, but it is also extremely forgiving of its opto-electrical and mechanical environment, something the consumer- and auto-orientated POF world takes for granted, but that is relatively new to the glass fiber world. "

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