[BP] DC block capacitors in 10G NRZ channels
Hello colleagues,
I would like to understand the perspective of the group with regards to
external DC block capacitors in 10Gbps channels such as the one being
designed by this group. My past experience indicates it will be
difficult to find DC block capacitors that are specified for operation
at 5GHz and beyond - at least capacitors that are priced reasonably such
that their cost is a small proportion of the link cost. In the farily
recent past I have had difficulty finding capacitors with low enough
ESRs even at 4Gbps operation.
Even if such a capacitor is found the transmission line discontinuities
(vias, pads etc) associated with such capacitors present a significant
degradation that would be nice to eliminate.
I will ask a secondary question.
Has it been considered to require the DC block capacitor to be internal?
Many SERDES vendors have DC blocks integrated within their receivers and
located downstream from the internal 50 ohm termination but upstream
from their receiver bias network (which has much larger impedance than
50 ohms). Such placement allows the capacitor to be much smaller in
value and thus integrateable and still allows the receiver to be biased
independently of the transmitter which I believe is the main purpose of
the DC block. Another benefit of the internal capacitor is that it will
not have the associated discontinuties that an external capacitor will
have.
Thanks in anticipation of your reply.
Vicente Cavanna
HP ProCurve Networking