News

8 June 2009

 

VCSEL maker VI Systems joins Optical Link project for short-reach datacoms

VI Systems GmbH of Berlin, Germany, a fabless developer and manufacturer of ultra-high-speed laser and photodetector chips and modules for data communications, industrial and consumer applications, is to participate in the ‘Optical Link’ project.

Starting on 1 July, the 24-month project is funded and managed by the Eurostars Program, a joint initiative of Eureka and the European Community. Partners include Tyco Electronics Nederland BV (in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands), LioniX BV (in Enschede, The Netherlands), the Fraunhofer IZM (in Berlin, Germany), and IHP GmbH - Innovations for High Performance Microelectronics (in Frankfurt/Oder, Germany).

The project aims to develop a new generation of ultra-high-bandwidth data communication interconnects for advanced applications including computer links such as USB 4.0 and related interfaces, PCI Express upgrades, and other vital solutions for short-reach data transfer such as future HDMI cables for audio and video signals. The partners will develop low-cost technology for optical cables by merging fast microlasers and detectors with electronic ICs and photonic integrated circuits (PICs).

Originally spun-out of Germany’s Technical University of Berlin and Russia’s A. F. Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute in St. Petersburg, VI Systems will contribute primarily by developing ultra-high-speed single-mode vertical-cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) and photodetector technologies and by performing integration services wherein its optoelectronic devices will be combined with PICs and SiGe-based BiCMOS ICs and assembled into fully packaged active optical cable.

Search: Laser chips Photodetector chips PICs VCSELs SiGe-based BiCMOS

Visit: www.v-i-systems.com