Mindspeed expands industry’s largest family of signal conditioners with integrated crosspoint switches

NEWPORT BEACH, USA: Mindspeed Technologies Inc., a leading supplier of semiconductor solutions for network infrastructure applications, expanded its signal conditioner family with four new Clock and Data Recovery (CDR) devices that are unique in including an integrated, non-blocking crosspoint that can be used for redundancy or protection switching, enabling the devices to handle system switching and signal integrity requirements in a single device.

The products use Mindspeed’s Amplif-Eye signal conditioning technology to send error-free data at high data rates across difficult channels in next-generation carrier and enterprise systems, for applications such as high-bandwidth Optical Transport Network (OTN) switches and access equipment required for the upcoming worldwide 10 Gbit/s Ethernet Passive Optical Network (10-GEPON) rollout.

Mindspeed’s new re-timing signal conditioners combine high-performance equalizers, CDRs and a crosspoint in a single, integrated solution. The eight-channel M21440 and 12-channel M21441 devices support up to 10.3125Gb/s data rates for protocols, including 10GbE, 8G Fibre Channel and PCIe, and feature both an integrated linear equalizer and a Decision Feedback Equalizer (DFE) in the input stage that, combined with the CDR, compensate for backplane signal reflections and transmitter noise.

The company also announced the eight-channel M21462 and 12-channel M21463 devices, which solve signal integrity issues for systems using RXAUI over backplanes, systems sending PCIe or Serial Attached SCSI/Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SAS/SATA) data over difficult channels, and systems using proprietary data rates up to 6.25Gb/s.

Key product features include:

M21440 and M21441: These devices are optimal for applications requiring transmission of 10Gb/s over a backplane, and support many standards up to 10.3125Gb/s, as well as non-standard and proprietary data rates. The CDR can automatically detect and lock to the input data rate, allowing support for legacy versions of protocols without user intervention, such as detecting between the data rates of Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) generation 1, 2 and 3. Both equalizer blocks are fully adaptive, which shortens design cycles and allows the device to accommodate changing channel conditions.

The programmable output driver includes post-tap and pre-tap de-emphasis, and the devices also include a pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBS) generator and checker that support PRBS31 patterns. An eye mapper feature shows the eye contour after equalization and can be customized for either eye resolution or capture time.

M21462 and M21463: These devices support data rates up to 6.25Gb/s and can solve signal integrity issues for systems using RXAUI over backplanes, systems sending PCIe or SAS/SATA data over difficult channels and systems using proprietary data rates. Pin compatibility with Mindspeed’s M21452 and M21453 non-retimed equalizer devices gives developers the flexibility to use either an equalizer or equalizer with CDR solution, without having to make any changes to the hardware.

Mindspeed’s new CDRs also expand the company’s extensive crosspoint portfolio, which spans channel counts from two to 288. In addition to enabling redundancy switching and easing routing constraints, the integrated crosspoints also enable loopback on any channel to aid in system test and debugging. Mindspeed’s crosspoint architecture is designed for applications requiring switching with ultra-low latency, such as financial trading. The latency through the device is less than 1.5 nanoseconds (ns), which can make a crucial difference in executing trades.

The 10.3125Gb/s M21440 and M21441 CDRs with adaptive equalizer and crosspoint are sampling now, with production scheduled for the second quarter of 2012. The 6.25Gb/s M21462 and M21463 CDRs with crosspoint switching are available now and are released to production.