Fujitsu has announced its third generation 14bit CMOS DACs, claiming it to be the world's fastest at 12Gsample/s.
Dubbed MB86066, the part is aimed at cable modem and radio infrastructure.
In perhaps another world first, this DAC has a name: the firm has christened it 'Anakin'.
"Such performance is key to enabling true single-platform designs, capable of multi-band as well as multi-mode air interface agnostic signal synthesis," said Fujitsu. "Furthermore, its performance comfortably encompassing 50-1,000MHz, meets the needs of all downstream cable modem infrastructure applications."
The device integrates two cascaded x2 interpolation filters, reducing the input data required to 3Gsample/s for full-rate operation.
Input data is shared across two parallel LVDS buses, each operating at up to 1.5Gsample/s, 750MHz DDR.
Two further LVDS buses are available to support applications requiring 6Gsample/s input data.
Both interpolation filters can be configured for either low, high or all-pass operation, "providing multiple operating and power reduced modes", said the firm.
15bit interfaces are implemented to support continuous, per-sample parity checking with automatic error counting.
The device is housed in an 15x15mm 324-ball plastic flip-chip BGA package.
Power consumption is 2.2W at 12Gsample/s, with both filters enabled, reducing to 950mW at 5.3Gsample/s for cable modem applications.
To simplify initial device evaluation, as well as to provide in-system diagnostics, Fujitsu has included a waveform memory module (WMM) on the chip which can store test-vectors of up to 256k samples long.
Device configuration and control is achieved via a four-wire serial interface.
Development samples are currently undergoing characterisation and qualification testing, with production-ready devices scheduled for Q4 2012.
For ASICs, the DAC core intellectual property - which also has a name, it is called 'Jacen' - can be licensed for incorporation using Fujitsu's 65nm CS200L CMOS process.