The AthenaCORE Long-Reach (LR) Multi-Standard-Serdes (MSS) IP is the highest performance SerDes in the Alphawave Semi product portfolio. It is a highly configurable IP that supports the most leading edge NRZ, PAM and Coherent data center standards and applications from 1Gbps to 224Gbps for Ethernet, PCIe and CXL.
AthenaCORE is the next generation SerDes platform from Alphawave Semi architected from the ground up to address the next paradigm in interconnectivity: 224G serial links. Five main application scenarios served by AthenaCORE SerDes platform variants are:
AthenaCORE includes protocol features critical in next generation technologies: ANLT (802.3 AutoNegotiation, Link Training) and PCIe-critical low-latency phase detector, fast rate changes and low power modes.
MLSD uses Viterbi Detection to make slicing decisions based on a sequence of data symbols. MLSD minimizes decision error across a sequence of symbols and improves the Signal-to-Noise Ratio and Bit Error Rate of systems.
The AthenaCORE MSS IP has options for a standard long reach swing, a high swing driver for optical applications, and a short reach optimized driver to optimize PPA.
The AthenaCORE DSP Master Controller includes:
Designed for closed eye, backplane systems greater than 40db of insertion loss at Nyquist (53GHz) for PAM4 with high MLSD. Includes blind adaptive equalizer and channel estimator.
Programmable 400 – 3000 mVdiff-pkpk (inner eye)
Optional Optical Non-Linearity Correction Features