MACOM has made its MACD-41804 Cable Driver with Equalizer available, targeting low-power, high-density copper interconnects for next-generation scale-up connectivity. The device is aimed at copper-based links where designers want to avoid retimed architectures and their associated latency, power, and system cost tradeoffs.

The MACD-41804 Cable Driver with Equalizer integrates input equalization, broad dynamic range, optional gain adaptation, and mission mode diagnostics. MACOM says the part is tailored for cost- and power-efficient links across multiple form factors, including 1.6T OSFP.

For data center architects trying to push scale-up fabrics harder inside a chassis or rack, this kind of cable-driver-plus-equalization approach is a straightforward knob to turn: keep copper for short-reach connectivity while trying to preserve signal integrity at higher throughputs, without adding a retimer stage. But the engineering reality is application-specific—your channel loss, connector stack-up, and margin requirements will determine whether a non-retimed path is viable at the speeds you’re targeting.

“Our new cable driver solution can enable customers to increase data transmission throughput while maintaining the benefits of copper, which include lower power and cost as compared to optics,” said Stephen G. Daly, President and CEO of MACOM.

The MACD-41804 is available in bumped die for compact flip-chip packaging, and it supports high-volume manufacturing. The company also highlighted the gain adaptation and diagnostics features as a way to provide monitoring feedback intended to translate into more power- and cost-efficient copper connectivity.

Source: MACOM