Plastic straw: future of high-speed signaling

Abstract

The ever-increasing demand for bandwidth triggered by mobile and video Internet traffic requires advanced interconnect solutions satisfying functional and economic constraints. A new interconnect called E-TUBE is proposed as a cost-and-power-effective all-electrical-domain wideband waveguide solution for high-speed high-volume short-reach communication links. The E-TUBE achieves an unprecedented level of performance in terms of bandwidth-per-carrier frequency, power, and density without requiring a precision manufacturing process unlike conventional optical/waveguide solutions. The E-TUBE exhibits a frequency-independent loss-profile of 4 dB/m and has nearly 20-GHz bandwidth over the V band. A single-sideband signal transmission enabled by the inherent frequency response of the E-TUBE renders two-times data throughput without any physical overhead compared to conventional radio frequency communication technologies. This new interconnect scheme would be attractive to parties interested in high throughput links, including but not limited to, 100/400 Gbps chip-to-chip communications.

E-TUBE: dielectric waveguide cable for high-speed communication

“…A conventional metallic waveguide that is fully enclosed by the conductor perfectly confines the transverse wave along the waveguide. However, the boundary conditions at the enclosing metal cladding cause frequency-dependent group delay which creates severe channel dispersion 13 . The E-TUBE, in contrast, has thin metal layers laminated only at the top and bottom of the dielectric as shown in Fig.…”

“…Figure 4 shows the interface between the board and the E-TUBE, including the MWT, the board-to-waveguide connector, and the E-TUBE. The slot-coupled MWT is designed to achieve wideband characteristics while suppressing the reflection occurring at the discontinuities between the microstrip line and the waveguide 13 . The E-TUBE is plugged into the opening of the connector and pushed all the way to the MWT on the board, which minimizes the reflection at the boundary between the board and the E-TUBE.…”

“…The plastic waveguides in the past allow limited bending performance since the dielectric cladding cannot prevent the electromagnetic leakage if the bending radius is comparable to the wavelength 11 , 12 . For that reason, a fully-enclosed metal waveguide is proposed for low bending loss even on the tightly bent condition 13 , 14 . However, the boundary condition determined by the fully-enclosed metal cladding causes a nonlinear phase response that results in group velocity dispersion (GVD), which eventually limits throughput-reach product.…”

Robust design of a broadband dual-polarized transition from PCB to circular dielectric waveguide for mm-wave applications

“…For short and mid-range high data rate interconnects, dielectric waveguide (DWG) cables can be an interesting alternative to commonly used copper cables or optical fibers [1]. DWGs are flexible, lightweight, and cost-effective.…”

Impulse response analysis of coherent waveguide communication

“…A demand in increasing bandwidth has driven researchers to explore waveguides as high-speed data communication channels [1–5]. Especially, a coherent optical fiber/waveguide communication has shown tremendous potential in scaling bandwidth because of its capabilities of in-phase/quadrature-phase and multi-level signaling [6].…”