MACOM Announces Industry’s First CWDM4 L-PIC for 100G Datacenter Applications

M/A-COM Technology Solutions announced the MAOP-L284CN, a silicon photonic integrated circuit integrated with lasers (L-PIC) for a 100G transmit solution for CWDM4 and CLR4 applications.

To meet the explosive growth of data traffic driven by video and mobile, major Internet content providers, such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Facebook, are building hyper-scale datacenters, which require high-speed interconnect solutions that are power efficient, compact and cost optimized. MACOM’s Etched Facet Technology (EFT) lasers are attached to the Silicon PIC using its proprietary Self-Alignment process (SAEFT) with high coupling efficiency, offering a power efficient solution at reduced manufacturing cost

MACOM’s MAOP-L284CN features four high bandwidth Mach-Zehnder modulators integrated with four lasers (1270, 1290, 1310, and 1330 nm) and a CWDM multiplexer, with each channel operating at up to 28 Gb/s. The L-PIC operates on a standard single mode optical fiber, and includes integrated tap detectors for fiber alignment, system initialization and closed loop control. A single fiber aligned to the output edge coupler of this 4.1 x 6.5 mm die is the only optical requirement for implementing this device into QSFP28 transceiver applications. MACOM is also offering the MASC-37053A modulator driver integrated with CDR, matched with this L-PIC for optimized performance and power dissipation.

“Silicon-based photonic integrated circuits, or PICs, enable integration of optical devices such as modulators and multiplexer onto a single chip. We believe that MACOM’s L-PIC solves the key challenge of aligning lasers to the silicon PIC with high yield and high coupling efficiency, making the adoption of Silicon PICs a reality for high-speed optical interconnects within the Datacenter,” said Vivek Rajgarhia, Vice President of Strategy, High-Speed Networking, for MACOM.