Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. Optical Fiber. 3. Photodetectors. 4. Receiver Fundamentals. 5. Transimpledance Amplifiers. 6. Main Amplifiers. 7. Optical Transmitters. 8. Laser and Modulator Drivers. Appendix A: Eye Diagrams. Appendix B: Differential Circuits. Appendix C: S Parameters. Appendix D: Transistors and Technologies. Appendix E: Answers to the Problems. Appendix F: Notation. Appendix G: Symbols. Appendix H: Acronyms. References. Index.

Broadband Circuits for Optical Fiber Communication

The ability to produce a high-performance monolithic CMOS photoreceiver, including the photodetector, could enable greater use of optics in short-distance communication systems. Such a receiver requires the ability to simultaneously produce a photodetector compatible with a high-volume high-yield CMOS process, as well as the entire receiver circuit. The quest for this element has yet to produce a clear winner, and has proven quite challenging. We review some of the work in this field with the goal of informing the reader as to the origin of the challenges and the implementation tradeoffs. Finally, we report experimental results from a monolithic CMOS photoreceiver realized in a 0.35-/spl mu/m production CMOS process, including a CMOS photodiode. Operating at 1 Gb/s, the receiver requires an average input power of -6.3 dBm at 850 nm to obtain a measured bit error rate of 1/spl times/10/sup -9/, and dissipates 1.5 mW at 2.2 V, increasing to 6 mW at 3.3 V.

1-Gb/s integrated optical detectors and receivers in commercial CMOS technologies

Line-of-sight free-space optical links can provide extremely high bandwidth communications, but this usually requires that transmitter and receiver are precisely aligned. In order to allow terminals to be mobile, links must be able to track users within their field of view so that the link is maintained. There are various means to do this, but all require complex subsystems with a number of different optical, optoelectronic, and electrical components. A solid-state tracking architecture is introduced and a seven-channel tracking system demonstration described. The system is designed to operate at 155 Mb/s and is, to the best of our knowledge, the first that uses an integrated approach. Arrays of novel resonant cavity LED (RCLED) emitters that operate at 980 nm are used as sources. These are flip-chip bonded to arrays of CMOS driver circuits and integrated with the necessary transmitter optics. The receiver uses a back-illuminated detector array flip-chip bonded to arrays of custom CMOS receivers. All these components are custom and have performance substantially better than nonoptimized commercially available components. In the paper, the design and fabrication of the optics, optoelectronics, and electronics required for this is described. Successful operation of all the subsystems is detailed, together with results from an initial link demonstration.

Integrated transceivers for optical wireless communications

This paper presents a 1-Gb/s optical receiver with full rail-to-rail output swing realized in a standard 0.7-/spl mu/m CMOS technology. The receiver consists of a 1-k/spl Omega/ transimpedance preamplifier followed by a postamplifier based on a biased inverter chain. The latter performs both a linear and a limiting amplification. The automatic biasing of the chain is provided through an offset tolerant replica circuit. The receiver requires no external components or biasing voltages. It is designed for a relatively large 0.8-pF input capacitance and is fed from a single 5-V power supply. These properties make the circuit suitable for a commercial environment. A sensitivity of 10 /spl mu/A was measured at 1 Gb/s. The complete receiver, including all biasing and replicas, consumes approximately 100 mW from the 5-V supply. When powered from a 3.3-V supply, a maximal bit rate of 600 Mb/s is achieved, while the power consumption is reduced to approximately 26.5 mW.

A 1-Gb/s, 0.7-/spl mu/m CMOS optical receiver with full rail-to-rail output swing

In a point-to-multipoint fiber-optic subscriber system using TDMA (time division multiple access), the receiver should be able to handle burst-data packets with different amplitudes, Moreover, high-bit-rate operation is desired for multimedia communications. The operational speed is mainly restricted by the input parasitic capacitance of the preamplifier. Reducing the input impedance of the preamplifier widens its frequency bandwidth, and it makes high-speed operation possible. A multistaged preamplifier using feedforward phase compensation technique has been devised for small input impedance with stable operation at high frequency. Multistaged feedforward bias control is used for quick response to burst data, and the time constant is also reduced for high-speed operation. Using these design techniques, an optical receiver IC was fabricated using standard 0.5-/spl mu/m CMOS technology. The instantaneous response receiver has high sensitivity of -35.6 dBm, a wide dynamic range of more than 26 dB for burst-mode optical input at 156 Mb/s, and requires no external adjustment. The use of standard CMOS technology and the freedom from external adjustment make it possible to build an inexpensive receiver module.

A 156-Mb/s CMOS optical receiver for burst-mode transmission

An instantaneous response CMOS optical-receiver IC is described with wide input dynamic range and high sensitivity. In a TCM (time compression multiplexing)-TDMA (time division multiple access) fiber-optic subscriber system, a receiver should be able to handle burst-data packets with different amplitude. This requires quick response and a wide dynamic range. Instantaneous response is achieved with a new feed-forward auto-bias adjustment technique. In addition, multistaged offset compensation provides a wide dynamic range without any external elements and adjustments. Using these design techniques, an optical receiver IC was fabricated in a standard 0.8-/spl mu/m CMOS technology. The receiver has a wide dynamic range of more than 25 dB for burst-mode optical input at 29 Mb/s. It has high transimpedance gain of 150 dB/spl Omega/ and high sensitivity of -42 dBm with stable operation for FET threshold voltage and power supply voltage fluctuation. >

An instantaneous response CMOS optical receiver IC with wide dynamic range and extremely high sensitivity using feed-forward auto-bias adjustment

This is the first report of a CMOS receiver IC that has high transimpedance gain of 150 dB/spl Omega/ and minimum detectable input current signal range from 0.05 /spl mu/A to 17 /spl mu/A with stable operation for FET's Vth and power supply voltage deviations. To implement wide dynamic range, a new multi-staged feed-forward auto-bias adjustment provides a wide dynamic range without any external elements and adjustments. Using this design technique, an optical receiver IC was fabricated by standard 0.8-/spl mu/m CMOS technology and it has a wide dynamic range of >25 dB for burst-mode optical input at 29 Mb/s. >

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/iel2/3036/8629/00379644.pdf

M. Nakamura

Papers

A 156-Mb/s CMOS optical receiver for burst-mode transmission

An instantaneous response CMOS optical receiver IC with wide dynamic range and extremely high sensitivity using feed-forward auto-bias adjustment

A wide-dynamic-range and extremely high-sensitivity CMOS optical receiver IC using feed-forward auto-bias adjustment