400G optical module

What are the functional differences between 10G, 25G, 40G, and 400G optical modules? What is a 400G optical module?

The 400G optical module is also called the 400G optical transceiver module, which mainly performs photoelectric conversion, converts the electrical signal into an optical signal at the sending end, and then transmits it through an optical fiber, and then converts the optical signal into an electrical signal at the receiving end. The transmission rate of the 400G optical module is 400G, which was born to adapt to the network market from 100M, 1G, 25G, 40G to 100G, 400G, and even 1T. The 400G optical module plays a vital role in building a 400G network system. effect.

400G optical module

What are the 400G optical module standards and packaging forms?

At present, the 400G module standard has not yet been unified, and there are mainly the following six types of standards and packaging forms of 400G optical modules.

① OSFP

The full English name of OSFP is Octal Small Formfactor Pluggable, and Octal means 8. This standard is a new interface standard and is not compatible with existing optical interfaces. Its size is 100.4*22.58*13 mm^3, which is slightly larger than that of QSFP-DD, thus requiring a larger PCB area. The pins of its electrical interface are different from those of QSFP-DD, and there are one row above and below.

②QSFP-DD

The full name of QSFP-DD is Quad Small Form Factor Pluggable-Double Density. This solution is an expansion of QSFP, adding one row to the original 4-channel interface and changing it to 8 channels, which is the so-called double density. This scheme is compatible with the QSFP scheme, which is one of the main advantages of this scheme. The original QSFP28 module can still be used, just plug in another module.

③ CFP8

CFP8 is an extension of CFP4, the number of channels is increased to 8 channels, and the size is also increased correspondingly to 40*102*9.5 mm^3. The cost of this solution is currently the highest.

④CWDM8

This standard is an extension of the CWDM4 standard. The rate of each wavelength is 50G, and 400G can also be realized. Added four new center wavelengths, namely 1351/1371/1391/1411nm. The wavelength range becomes wider, the requirements for Mux/DeMux are higher, and the number of lasers is doubled. The maximum input power is 8.5dBm.

⑤CDFP

The CDFP standard was born earlier, and the third edition of the specification has been released so far. CD means 400 (Roman numerals). It uses 16 channels, and the single channel rate is 25G. Due to the large number of channels, the size is relatively large.

⑥COBO

The full name of COBO is consortium for on board optics, which means placing all optical components on the PCB board. The main advantages of this solution are good heat dissipation and small size. However, because it is not hot-swappable, once a certain module fails, it will be troublesome to repair.

What is the function of 400G optical module?

The main function of the 400G optical module is to increase the throughput of data and maximize the bandwidth and port density of the data center. The future trend of 400G optical modules is to achieve wide gain, low noise, miniaturization and integration, and provide high-quality optical communication modules for next-generation wireless networks and ultra-large-scale data centers.

How many chips do 400G optical modules need?

my country's 400G optical module chips are heavily dependent on imports. From the perspective of the competition pattern of the global optical chip industry, my country's high-end optical chip self-sufficiency rate is insufficient, and the demand for related optical chips is extremely dependent on imports.

Therefore, although only one optical chip needs to be used in the 400G optical module, it accounts for a high cost ratio and is the crown jewel of the value chain of the optical module industry. In the optical module, the optical chip occupies the highest value end, and the cost of the optical chip of the higher-end optical module is higher. In 10G/25G optical modules, the cost of optical chips accounts for about 30%, in 40G/100G optical modules, the cost of optical chips accounts for about 50%, and in 400G optical modules, the cost of optical chips accounts for up to 70%.

What is the difference between 400G optical modules and 10G, 25G, 40G optical modules?

Although 10G, 25G, 40G and even 100G optical transceivers have become the mainstream of the market, as the requirements for bandwidth, port density, and system energy consumption continue to increase, 400G optical transceivers will be a system that can further promote technology to higher speeds. Another new stage of progress.

Compared with 10G, 25G, and 40G optical modules, the arrival of 400G optical modules will bring optical communication into a new era. Optical communication is moving from single-carrier modulation coherent detection of low-end optical modules to polarization multiplexing for multi-carrier applications. Level Phase Modulation and Array Coherent Detection Transformation. Photon integration and electronic integration, ADC/DSP technology will be the key to the commercialization of 400G optical communication modules and systems. With the urgent need of Ethernet standardization, the requirement of optical parallelization will have a huge impetus to photonic integration technology.