Aug 4 2010
Supplier of electro-optic semiconductor devices, GigOptix, has announced that it has received a $200,000 grant to customize its patented LX8400 40 GB/s TFPS MZ modulator. The TFPS (Thin Film Polymer on Silicon) modulator will be used in a Government Supercomputing program.
GigOptix provides advanced optical modulator and analog solutions for the 100, 40 and 10G datacenter, datacom and telecom markets. The TFPS MZ modulator has a low-drive voltage and a bandwidth of 65 GHz. The low voltage allows high-rate data transmission with minimum power consumption.
Earlier, GigOptix completed a similar program where its modulator transmitted 40 Gb/s data at -233° Celsius. The company will use the grant to customize the modulator’s low temperature operation to allow optical connections in peta-flop class supercomputers between memory running at room temperatures and processors operating at low temperatures.
GigOptix’s General Manager and Vice President, Dr. Raluca Dinu, stated that the company has identified specific process and design enhancements from previous tests to enhance the performance of 40G modulators at low temperatures. Dinu further added that the modulators can prove useful in datacenter, supercomputer and telecom applications.