Driver Amplifiers Target 10- And 40-Gb/s Networks

March 26, 2009

According to Strategy Analytics, overall growth for gallium-arsenide (GaAs) driver amplifiers will be 7 percent through 2012. Growth in the 40-Gb/s market will be even greater as the need for wider bandwidth on existing fiber networks promotes more efficient pulse transmissions schemes like differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK). The TGA4943-SL driver amplifier from TriQuint Semiconductor, which is the first surface-mount-technology (SMT) device for next-generation 40-Gb/s networks, combines multiple amplifiers and filters within a surface-mount package. It consumes 2.1 W, which is said to be about half the power consumption of comparable optical network solutions. Its sibling, the TGA4956-SM 8-x-8mm surface-mount driver amplifier, targets 10-Gb/s optical networks. Over DC to 12 GHz, the TGA4956-SM delivers +23 dBm output power at 1-dB compression with more than 32 dB of gain. It boasts rise and fall times of less than 25 ps and additive RMS jitter below 1.5 ps. At 3-Vpp output, it requires 120-mA bias at 3.3 V. It consumes 200-mA bias at 5 V with a 6-Vpp output. Output amplitude is adjustable from 3 to 7 Vpp.

About the Author

Nancy Friedrich

RF Product Marketing Manager for Aerospace Defense, Keysight Technologies

Nancy Friedrich is RF Product Marketing Manager for Aerospace Defense at Keysight Technologies. Nancy Friedrich started a career in engineering media about two decades ago with a stint editing copy and writing news for Electronic Design. A few years later, she began writing full time as technology editor at Wireless Systems Design. In 2005, Nancy was named editor-in-chief of Microwaves & RF, a position she held (along with other positions as group content head) until 2018. Nancy then moved to a position at UBM, where she was editor-in-chief of Design News and content director for tradeshows including DesignCon, ESC, and the Smart Manufacturing shows.