Session 8 overview: Optical links and copper PHYs: Wireline subcommittee

Cloud computing requires interconnect solutions for distances ranging from tens of kilometers to less than one meter, driving the demand for advances in both optical links and copper-based Ethernet PHYs. The power consumption, cost, data-rate, and density of these designs must all be improved simultaneously, driving innovation in both the circuit and system architectures. This session includes 9 papers, including demonstrations of a highly parallel short-reach 60×10Gb/s optical interconnect, linear as well as non-linear techniques for electronic dispersion compensation of optical-component non-idealities at 6 to 25Gb/s, and a driver enabling a VCSEL rated for 25Gb/s to operate at 40Gb/s. Similarly, a new 10GBASE-T analog front-end and a GPHY driver architecture with rail-to-rail full-duplex operation demonstrate power savings for Ethernet PHY applications. Finally, two new CDR architectures enable robust frequency acquisition and low-jitter clock recovery in reference-less systems.