Case Study: Fujitsu Laboratories of America achieves first-silicon success for 40 Gbps SERDES with MathWorks

Fujitsu Develops and Tests State-of-the-Art 40 Gbps Optical Transponder

Fujitsu Laboratories of America set out to develop a 40 Gbps serializer/deserializer (SERDES) IC with a stringent ≤4.5 W power target and the ability to validate jitter tolerance and bit-error rate (BER) over millions of symbols—requirements that circuit-level SPICE simulations alone could not meet. To address this, Fujitsu worked with MathWorks, using Simulink alongside MATLAB and the Instrument Control Toolbox to bridge detailed analog simulations and large-scale system-level verification.

MathWorks’ tools let Fujitsu abstract SPICE results into fast Simulink models (including VCO noise, CDR, and limiting amplifier behavior) and automate hardware testing with MATLAB and Instrument Control Toolbox. The outcome: first-silicon success for Simulink-verified subsystems, final SERDES power consumption of 3.5 W (well under the 4.5 W goal), the ability to simulate millions of cycles to verify BER, and a 90% reduction in test time.

Fujitsu Laboratories of America

Nikola Nedovic

Researcher