This year's conference was concentrated on technologies for getting a signal from point A to point B efficiently, elegantly and as faithfully as possible. Engineers involved in testing and design found the conference had information of interest right from boards and systems to packaging and dies.
Although the technical tracks had their focus on signal integrity, the overall emphasis was on high-speed PCB layouts, analog design and verification, FPGAs, 3-D packaging and most importantly, on high-speed interfaces of around 28Gbps (as is normally the case).
At DesignCon 2012, Molex showcased their high-density, high-speed and high-signal-integrity interconnecting technology. Molex subject matter experts showcased advances in power, speed and design flexibility and displayed a range of products such as -
• Power Connectors: EXTreme Ten60Power (High-Current) & EXTreme LPHPower Connectors. Molex showed how airflow can affect power supply performance and how Molex connectors enhanced the system design.
• zSFP+ and zQSFP+: Molex, in partnership with Texas Instruments, showcased its breakthrough in 28Gbps transmission technology over copper cables.
• NeoScale for 28Gbps speeds: Molex showcased the NeoScale, a recently introduced high-speed solution that maintains true signal integrity while delivering at 28Gbps+ transmission speeds. It uses a unique design based on triad wafer.
• Impact Backplane Connector System: The Impact System's flexible configuration was demonstrated.
Texas Instruments rolled out their line of ten 12.5Gbps signal conditioners for driving signals through copper cables over distances up to 20m. Their aim is to root out the more expensive, larger and more power-hungry physical layer chips.
To hit milestones, Texas Instruments have used the latest techniques for signal integrity and process technologies. In this way, Texas Instruments have joined an industry focused intently on responding to the increasing demand of carrying greater amounts of data over networks without sacrificing power or escalating costs.
The Texas Instruments 12.5Gbps signal conditioners consist of repeaters and retimers, with the repeaters consuming only 65mW, while driving a channel for 10G. The retimers require as little as 150mW. These signal-conditioning chips are meant to condition signals in applications across a range of transmission media, including copper, board and optical cable. They will cover a range of protocols such as Infiniband, Fiber Channel and Ethernet.
To hit the low-power figures, TI uses its proprietary process of BiCMOS SiGe. The chips have on-board algorithms that measure the signals and apply equalization on-the-fly as required.
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