Silicon Line Bows ICs for Optical Cables Supporting 16-18 Gbps Transmission Speeds

Silicon Line launched a line of integrated circuits with transmission speeds of 16 to 18 Gbps, it said Monday. The chips will be produced in single-channel and four-channel versions, enabling active optical cables with speeds up to 72 Gbps, it said. Applications include optical cables for HDMI- and DisplayPort-enabled devices and custom cables for virtual reality headsets, 4K and 8K TV and commercial products, said the company. Active optical cables using Silicon Line technology require no outside power source for converting and transmitting electrical signals as optical signals, and compared with copper wire, they're lighter and more flexible for high bandwidth applications, have a longer transmission distance and aren’t susceptible to electromagnetic interference, it said.