Silicon Line announces world’s first optical embedded DisplayPort ICs for notebooks, ultrabooks and tablets

MUNICH, GERMANY: Silicon Line GmbH, a leading provider of ultra-low power analog ICs, has brought to market the SL82728 and SL82718 ICs targeted at notebooks, ultrabooks and tablets using the latest VESA based Embedded DisplayPort standard. The ICs are used to optically connect the graphics processor to the display and enable the replacement of traditional electrical connectors with optical connectors.

Strong consumer demand for high resolution retina type displays and 3D technology is driving the data rates inside mobile devices ever higher. These extremely high data rates not only generate significant EMI when traditional electrical cables are used to transport the data but also are reaching the limits of the practical capabilities of electrical cables.

Silicon Line already has a broad portfolio of ultra-low power high speed optical link interface ICs including products for MIPI D-PHY and MIPI M-PHY based smart phones. The SL82728 and SL82718 are the latest additions to the portfolio and are the first products compliant with the Embedded DisplayPort specification. These world’s first optical Embedded DisplayPort ICs enable Silicon Line to support the latest trends for high performance displays in notebooks, ultrabooks and tablets.

“The latest generation of retina type displays demand extremely high data rates”, says Ian Jackson, senior manager, Sales and Marketing, Silicon Line. “As an example, a 10 inch tablet display with 500 pixels per inch can require up to 23 Gbps and when used in 3D mode would require twice that bandwidth. Optical transport of these signals solves the EMI challenges which these data rates create as well as enabling the small and thin form factor designs specified for Ultrabooks”, he added.

The SL82728 quad channel vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) driver and the SL82718 quad channel transimpedance amplifier (TIA) together with appropriate photonics are used to implement an optical link for transporting high speed Embedded DisplayPort signals from the graphics processor to the display.

The devices support up to four data lanes at up to 6 Gbps per lane. They can therefore be used to implement the Embedded DisplayPort Version 1.3 standard which specifies a maximum of 5.4 Gbps per data lane. Their ultra-low power consumption of less than 13 mW per channel at 6 Gbps makes them ideal for mobile battery operated consumer devices such as notebooks, ultrabooks and tablets. Extremely small optical links based on these ICs eliminate EMI issues and enable slim form factor designs.

Single and dual channel versions of these products are also available for applications which require less than four data lanes. The SL82728 and SL82718 are available as bare die and are sampling now.