At DesignCon 2025, Samtec showcased multiple product demonstrations, highlighting 224 Gbps PAM4 interconnect solutions. A notable demonstration, in collaboration with Broadcom, featured a platform integrating Broadcom's 200G SERDES technology with Samtec's Si-Fly high-density co-packaged copper cable system.
Si-Fly High-Density Copper Cable System
The Si-Fly HD CPC offers high-density interconnects, achieving 102.4 Tbps bandwidth (512 channels ¡Á 200G) on a 95¡Á95mm chip substrate. By eliminating BGA fan-out and printed circuit board insertion loss, this co-packaged copper cable enables a fully passive 224G DAC channel, balancing performance and cost.
Demonstration Details
Two platforms were presented to evaluate the performance of Samtec's Si-Fly HD copper cable system with Broadcom's 200G SERDES.
First Platform
The first platform assessed signal integrity over a 30mm Broadcom substrate, followed by a 150mm Samtec Ultra Low-skew twinax cable loopback, with a total channel loss of 20 dB. Four channels achieved a bit error rate of e-13, demonstrating near-error-free performance suitable for AI chip-to-chip interconnects.
Second Platform
The second platform simulated a data center application, routing 200G signals from a midplane to a front panel via a passive DAC cable loopback. The signal path included a Si-Fly HD cable assembly, a 254mm (10-inch) Samtec Ultra Low-skew twinax cable, a Samtec OSFP front-panel connector, and a 1-meter passive DAC cable, looping back to the Broadcom SERDES. Despite a 48 dB total channel loss, the platform maintained a bit error rate of e-13, offering a reference for designing high-performance, cost-effective channels.
Future Developments
Performance is expected to improve with the release of high-performance 224G Flyover OSFP products later in 2025, further advancing co-packaged interconnect technology.
