Fast Ethernet Fiber Transceiver Replaces Three Parts Per Port

The ML6696, a fiber-optic Fast Ethernet transceiver IC, replaces three devices per port in the design of network interface cards, repeaters and switches. It integrates the entire 100Base-FX physical layer, LED driver and post amplifier (quantizer).The chip is fully compliant with the 100Base-FX IEEE 802.3u standard for data transmission using a wavelength of 1300 nm. Perhaps more importantly, the chip supports the emerging 100Base-SX standard being developed by the Telecommunication Industry Association. That standard holds the promise of per-port cost reductions by virtue of its basis on a 820-nm wavelength, thus enabling use of less costly optical components. The ML6696 includes 4B/5B encoder/decoder, 125-MHz clock recovery and generation, as well as the LED driver and post amplifier. In power-down mode, it consumes less than 20 mA.