January 1, 2020 - global data cloud business continues to maintain high growth, driving the rapid growth of network bandwidth demand every year. Artificial intelligence, deep learning, distributed neural network, Internet of things and other applications have been eager for higher bandwidth networks. In this context, a high cost-effective silicon optical module solution for 400g data communication is introduced: 400g qsfp-dd DR4 (500m) and 400g qsfp-dd DR4 + (2km).
The 400g qsfp-dd DR4 module is based on silicon photon integration technology and adopts the industry-leading 7Nm DSP chip. The silicon optical engine changes the traditional discrete device layout, adopts 2.5D package, and integrates multiple active and passive chips such as MZM modulator, silicon waveguide, detector, driver, TIA, etc. After integration, the chip size is greatly reduced, which can be packaged into the module by using mature cob technology, greatly simplifying the design and manufacturing of optical modules, which is conducive to large-scale production.
In the aspect of packaging, it is the fiber array coupling component with independent intellectual property rights and the ultra-low loss CW light source coupling technology, which effectively reduces the optical link loss. At the same time, according to different application scenarios, single or double lasers are used to support 4-way 100gbps optical signal transmission of 500m and 2km, and the transmission distance can exceed 2km.
Compared with the traditional 4-way 100g EML scheme, the 400g DR4 silicon optical module only needs one or two-way light sources, which reduces the number of lasers; at the same time, by optimizing the design, the TEC temperature control module is omitted, which makes the production more convenient and the cost more advantageous. At present, the cost of 400g optical module of EML scheme is still high, which has become one of the constraints for data center network to iterate from 100g to 400g. We believe that with the maturity of silicon optical technology, 400g silicon optical module will become the best choice for data communication customers with its superior cost performance.
