July 16, 2007 – Silicon Line GmbH sets a new world record for ultra-low power consuming VCSEL-Drivers
Silicon Line GmbH, a German fabless analog IC company, today announced that it set again a new world-record in ultra-low power consumption with its release of the SL82020, a 2.0 Gigabit per second (Gbps) laser driver for Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL).
The product, which consumes only 4 mW of power, was designed to address the market for optical fiber links in mobile electronics like mobile phones, laptop computers or PDAs.
With this IC the company outpaced its own, more than 1 year old record for ultra-low power VCSEL-drivers. Together with the companies’ transimpedance amplifier, the SL82010, now it is possible to establish a robust optical fiber link with less than 20 mW.
“We are excited about the emerging market transition to optical links for connecting displays with their graphic processors in mobile electronics,” said Holger Hoeltke, Managing Director at Silicon Line “To our knowledge, Silicon Line currently is the only company in the world who can sample ICs with a low power level that truly address the requirements of battery operated devices”.
The SL82020 is a multi-rate VCSEL driver optimized for low-power, fiber related data transport applications with respect to various transmission standards.
The driver is designed in standard CMOS and supports data rates up to well above 2 Gbps.
The SL82020 can be DC-coupled to the VCSEL, thereby eliminating the need for any bias filters and saving costs. The VCSEL-driver operates over a -40 to +100 ºC temperature range.
To facilitate assembly in small form factor packages the SL82020 integrates all necessary functions on chip. Except for two external resistors, which define the I0-current and modulation current, no external components are needed to operate the driver. Upon customer request, the external resistors may be integrated into the driver, as well.