Slideshow: Lessons learned, fun had at DesignCon

Hard Find Electronics Ltd 2013-02-01 02:01

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- The DesignCon 2013 votes are in and the eyes have it. Copper traces can handle 40 and even 56 Gbits/second, according to one of the most talked-about papers at event here.Engineers from LSI Corp. and TE Connectivity ran simulations showing eyes peeking open--barely--at 56G without using any exotic technologies.

The paper did suggest in its assumption and conclusions (below) the industry will need to move to better materials (Panasonic's Megtron-6 got most mentions) and more advanced modulation schemes (here comes PAM-2 and -4!). But the big headline is there is at least one and maybe two more turns of the crank before printed circuit boards and chips enter the optical era.

It won't be easy. There's a Jell-O boat load of jitter ahead. But copper's here for a few more years.

Separately, IBM, Samtec and others showed important work in optical engineering plowing the way to a more distant future.

Meanwhile, the show floor displayed a handful of notable innovations, a few good engineers picked up awards for their work and people drank beer. The following slides provide a rough synopsis of the lessons learned and fun found along the way.