Adding to our existing products in support of current system development with high baud rate multi-level transmission, SHF has brought out a new 3-Bit DAC (digital-to-analog converter), the SHF 613 A.
When using two or three binary data inputs, this new module is capable of generating 4- or 8-level signals up to the baud rate of at least 60 Gbps, as illustrated below.
60 GBaud 4-level from SHF 613 A DAC
An important feature of this PAM4 / PAM8 generator is the input regeneration function. An array of DFFs is integrated into the DAC chip to regenerate the input signals on-chip, thus mitigate any signal degradation as a result of the use of long cables from the data source, which might be unavoidable in some testing arrangements. Therefore, it becomes possible to bring the resultant high quality multi-level signal very close to the DUT, so as to minimize the use of interconnecting cables and speed degradation.
From this aspect, this module is superior compared to the all-passive approach. Further it is faster than any currently available AWG instrument.
The full data sheet can be downloaded here.