Maxim intros SFP+ optical transceiver

USA: Engineers can now achieve high performance in optical modules with low power consumption using the highly integrated MAX3956 10GBASE-LR SFP+ optical transceiver IC from Maxim Integrated Products Inc.

Optical module designers must typically trade high performance for power consumption in their applications. The MAX3956 SFP+ laser transceiver IC solves that problem. It delivers better than 50% transmit mask margin performance (1k waveforms, zero mask hits) with < 0.8W total SFP+ module power dissipation. This reduced power dissipation lowers operational expenditures (OPEX) and improves thermal reliability in data centers.

Additionally, the device integrates highly accurate analog monitors for digital diagnostics monitoring (DDM), including temperature, VCC, and RSSI sensors, to ensure a compact design and save bill-of-material (BOM) cost. By integrating analog monitors and a 12-bit analog-to-digital converter (ADC), the MAX3956 enables the use of a low-cost, "all-digital" external microcontroller.