High bandwidth with old technology

A former division of electronics giant Motorola claims to be developing technology to provide high-bandwidth speeds of 40Gb per second, using technology that dates back to the early 80s. Details are patchy, but On Semiconductor claims that it can already provide speeds of 6Gb per second using Emitter Coupled Logic (ECL), usually used for testing Integrated Circuits. The not-so new approach is based around CMOS technology, which – On Semiconductor says – has been ignored by most people because it is too slow and too noisy. Two generally good reasons to ignore old technology, but there you go… On Semiconductor's marketing manager Geert De Vuyst told The Register: "There has been great interest in ECL technology for ASDL, networking and telecommunications." On Semiconductor's main customers are currently ADSL card manufacturers like Alcatel. ®