Date: 21/09/2010

Altera demos 25-Gbps transceivers in programmable logic

Altera has demonstrated a 25-Gbps transceiver performance in programmable logic. Altera achieved this milestone in its 28-nm transceiver test chip, a prototyping platform that Altera is using to deploy 28-Gbps transceivers on 28-nm FPGAs.

Altera's 28-nm transceiver test chip provides insight into how transceiver designs behave on TSMC's 28-nm high-performance (HP) process. The test chip enable Altera to develop and apply optimization techniques for power, jitter and link performance in the production tape-out of Stratix V FPGAs featuring 28-Gbps transceivers. Altera's Stratix V FPGAs are architected to serve markets such as military communications, optical transmission networks and emerging test equipment systems.

"Altera's achievements with transceiver technology at 28-nm sets the bar high for the rest of the chip industry who are rapidly trying to support the next-generation of 4x25-Gbps high-density, low-power optical modules," said Christian Urricariet, director of marketing for high-speed optics at Finisar. "Together, Altera and Finisar are leading the way to bringing high-bandwidth, low-cost optical communications to the market which will inevitably change the way datacenters are designed and architected."

"The industry's move to 28-Gbps transceivers enables next-generation broadband networks to address the demand for increasing bandwidth while maintaining form factor, cost and power constraints," said Luanne Schirrmeister, senior director of product marketing at Altera Corporation. "The results we demonstrated on our 28-nm transceiver test chip clearly show Altera is on the forefront of this evolution and we are on target to achieve 28-Gbps on our 28-nm FPGAs. Our ability to provide these high-performance, low-power transceivers is a direct result of the close collaboration between Altera and TSMC and the use of TSMC's 28-nm HP process, which offers an ideal choice for devices used in next-generation, high-bandwidth systems."