This article provides a complete engineering reference covering the physical principles of PAM-4 IM/DD, the architecture of a production link, quantitative performance analysis including the BER–SNR relationship and chromatic dispersion budget, the evolving modulator technology. This article provides a complete engineering reference covering the physical principles of PAM-4 IM/DD, the architecture of a production link, quantitative performance analysis including the BER–SNR relationship and chromatic dispersion budget, the evolving modulator technology. In this guide, we review the design considerations, associated challenges and solutions to the next generation of data center architecture built for 224G — and how Molex matches solutions to performance requirements, provides signal integrity data and brings valuable insight starting on day one. Jennifer Bernal, Kumarpal Mandoth Clocks and Timing Solutions ABSTRACT Hyperscale data centers and telecommunication market sectors are currently driving the need for high speed serial links using 112G and 224G Pulse Amplitude Modulation with 4-Levels Serializer and Deserializer (PAM4 SerDes). The. This Pulse-Amplitude Modulation 4-Level (PAM4) application note explains PAM4 theory and operation while introducing the Intel® Stratix® 10 TX device capability and the realization of 57. The application note uses 56 Gbps to describe data rates in general because of. Higher-order PAM formats such as PAM6 and PAM8 can significantly boost throughput—by 1. 5× over PAM4 respectively—at the same symbol rate. However, this efficiency comes at the cost of increased SNR requirements and signal degradation from jitter, ISI, and noise. A detailed comparison of. NOR ANY PARTY INVOLVED IN CREATING, PRODUCING, OR DELIVERING THIS PUBLICATION SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF YOUR ACCESS, USE OR INABILITY TO ACCESS OR USE THIS PUBLICATION, OR ANY ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN ITS CONTENT. PAM-4 encodes two bits per symbol, halving the required electrical bandwidth compared with a binary non-return-to-zero (NRZ) signal at the same bit rate. As data center capacity generations have escalated from 100G to 400G to 800G and now toward 1.