Design of a transimpedance amplifier for 10 Gbit/s optical receivers with a new topology of active balun

Abstract

A novel topology for an active balun which allows a differential gain 6 dB higher than a single differential pair is proposed. A transimpedance amplifier for 10 Gbit/s receivers has been designed based on this topology, which shows a transimpedance gain of 62.5 dBΩ and an input impedance of 150 Ω. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 27: 257–259, 2000.

An active balun for high-CMRR IC design

“…The proposed topology is therefore useful to design blocks for signal processing in very diverse application fields. In particular, it has been used in recent years to design a transimpedance amplifier as the first block of a 10 Gb/s optical receiver [10] in GaAs HEMT technology; it has been proposed as a block in the CMOS IF section of a wireless receiver [11], and to design the output stage of a COA in CMOS technology [12]. The wide range of applications of the topology may involve different design constraints according to the given design goals.…”