High-speed, miniature cable designs top DesignCon’s new releases

Although I was not in attendance at DesignCon 2016, I have had an opportunity to review some of the new, impressive designs that were seen last week at the Santa Clara Convention Center.

A variety of interconnect technologies were on showcase, with some key highlights being high-speed cable designs as well as micro-miniature cables to ease the strains on the smaller and smaller chip and board designs out there.

Here is a look at some of the key new cable designs showcased at DesignCon:

• Yamaichi Electronics presented its high-speed active/passive copper cable line-up, including its CFP2, CFP4, SFP28, QSFP28, QSFP28-SFP28 breakout cables and more. Designed to meet 100GBASE-CR4, 25GBASE-CR, and EDR requirements, Yamaichi’s high-speed cables are available in a wide range of cable lengths (Passive: 0.50-5.0 m, Active: 1.0-7.0 m) and cable size (AWG 30-AWG 24).
• Lorom America demonstrated the future of copper with its channel speeds in excess of 320 GB/S in the existing QSFP+ form factor. Its new 28G SFP+/QSFP+ Passive Cables feature a proprietary low loss cable technology, lowering cooling costs and reduced power consumption compared to fiber.
• Micro-Coax launched three new microminiature coaxial cables and connector capability to support them. They include the TGZ025D, a flexible cable with an outer diameter of 0.65 mm, offering performance to 18 GHz and above; UT-020-TP, a tin-plated version of its popular semi-rigid cable, with an outer diameter of 0.60 mm, featuring millimeter-wave performance up to 239 GHz; and UT-042, the newest member of its semi-rigid lineup, with an outer diameter of 1.10 mm and performance up to 122 GHz. The 0.25 mm diameter center conductor is well suited for 1.0 mm coaxial connectors.