Elenion launches CSTAR silicon photonic BGA-packaged coherent optical sub-assembly platform

Elenion Technologies of of New York, NY, USA, a vertically integrated designer and provider of silicon photonics-based system-on-chip solutions, has announced its next-generation Coherent Silicon Transmitter and Receiver (CSTAR) optical BGA platform, enabling multiple solutions for transmission up to 600G on a single wavelength, as well as new small form factors for compact pluggable modules such as OIF 400G ZR QSFP-DD.

Already sampling to customers with the CSTAR-200, the DSP-agnostic, coherent optical engine enables pluggables such as CFP2-DCO and on-board applications, from data-center interconnect to long haul in 100/200G coherent optical communication links.

“Elenion’s CSTAR platform allows us to offer differentiated coherent solutions,” comments Siraj ElAhmadi, president & general manager of Menara Networks.

The CSTAR platform comprises a multi-chip-module (MCM) and integrates Elenion’s silicon photonics and RFICs. Integrated into a non-hermetic BGA package, CSTAR provides a next-generation coherent optical engine for 100-600Gb/s network applications.

“From the beginning at Elenion, we’ve built our silicon photonic chips in a production CMOS fab, which enables us to build complex optical devices,” says Elenion’s chief technology officer Michael Hochberg. “Having leveraged on-chip complexity to eliminate all of the isolators, lenses and other free-space optics from our package, Elenion is taking these chips and having them assembled in a production electronics-attach environment, reusing the infrastructure investment from the ASIC industry,” he adds. “This is a milestone for the silicon photonics industry, and represents an inflection point with regard to the cost of packaging for silicon photonics and integrated photonic components in general,” he believes.

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Tags: Molex silicon photonics

Visit: www.elenion.com