Sixteen-Lane PCI Express 5.0 Retimer / CXL Chip Supports up to 32 Gbps Operation
Parade Technologies, Ltd. (Taiwan OTC: 4966.TWO), a leading high-speed interface, video display, and touch controller IC supplier, introduces the new PS8936 retimer chip developed for PCI Express Rev. 5.0 and Compute Express Link (CXL), supporting sixteen bidirectional lanes. In addition to supporting the 32 Gbps data rate offered by the PCI Express 5.0 specification, it also supports 2.5 Gbps, 5 Gbps, 8 Gbps and 16 Gbps for backward compatibility with earlier PCI Express revisions.
The PS8936 is the PCI Express Gen 5 retimer addition to Parade’s PS8926 and PS8925 PCI Express 4.0 16-lane and 4-lane retimer family currently in production and PS8570 PCI Express 4.0 4-channel linear redriver in sampling stage. The PS8936 is in full compliance with the PCI Express 5.0 specification and has been successfully tested in multiple OEM systems and PCI Express 5.0 CPU platforms. It is designed for use in enterprise systems including servers and data storage, and in high-performance workstations. Retimers are needed in very-high-speed data channels to maintain signal integrity across longer PCB traces, connectors, and cables. The doubling of data rate that PCI Express 5.0 offers over the PCI Express 4.0 comes with the even tougher challenge of error-free signal propagation, which is why retimers are an integral part of the PCI Express 5.0 specification and system implementation.
“PCI Express has always been an important interface because it’s the technology leader that other high-speed data interfaces tend to follow,” said Jimmy Chiu, Executive VP of Marketing at Parade Technologies. “Parade has a long history in supplying PCI Express repeaters, starting with PCIe Gen 2, Gen 3 and Gen 4 in the past. Our success in development of the PCIe Gen 5 retimer also provides us optimized analog IP that can be leveraged for supporting the increasing data rates of other standards such as USB4 v2, DisplayPort 2.1, and HDMI.”
The PS8936 includes both adaptive CTLE and DFE equalization to compensate for up to 36 dB channel loss at Nyquist. In addition to supporting PCI Express specification-compliant retimer operation for common reference clock, SRIS and SRNS configurations, it can also enable near-zero latency bit-level retiming. It supports -40 to +85 deg. ambient temperature range.
Availability
The PS8936 is available in an 8.9mm x 22.8mm 354-ball BGA package and is sampling now.
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