Transimpedance amplifiers with 133 GHz bandwidth on 130 nm indium phosphide double heterojunction bipolar transistors

Abstract

In this work, the authors present two transimpedance amplifier (TIA) circuits designed for fibre optical interconnect systems. They compare a common base (CB) topology with a common emitter (CE) shunt-shunt feedback topology in terms of frequency response, power consumption, noise, and input impedance. The two TIAs are designed on a 130 nm indium phosphide double heterojunction bipolar transistor technology from Teledyne Scientific Company (TSC) with an f t /f max of 520 GHz/1.15 THz and are measured in the frequency and time domains. They exhibit a transimpedance gain of 42 dBΩ with a 133 GHz bandwidth, the highest bandwidth reported in the literature and power consumption of 32.3 mW for the CB and 25.5 mW for the CE. Eye diagram measurements were conducted up to 64 Gbps and input referred noise density was measured at 30.2 pA/ Hz √ for the CB and 13.9 pA/ Hz √ for the CE.

Single Stage Low Noise Inductor-Less TIA for RF Over Fiber Communication

“…The optical receiver front-end consists of photodetector, followed by transimpedance amplifier (TIA), hence it should offer very low noise and high bandwidth to avoid any degradation in sensitivity. Hence, TIA design is very critical, considering the trade-off between input-referred current noise, gain, bandwidth, and power dissipation [1]- [5]. To realize such a TIA, devices with high transition frequency (f t ) and low noise are necessary.…”

“…Traditionally, III-V based semiconductors such as gallium arsenide (GaAs) and indium phosphide (InP) have superior noise and breakdown voltage characteristics and hence been a preferred technology choice for optical frontend and receiver [1], [2]. Typically, a 0.13 µm gate length InP high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) has an f t of about 100 GHz and minimum noise figure of 1 dB at 26 GHz [2].…”