A Wide-Dynamic-Range Optical Receiver Using an Input Overload Compensation Circuit

Abstract

A wide-dynamic-range 10-Gb/s optical receiver is proposed in a transistor outlook (TO)-can module with a p-i-n photodiode (PIN-PD), a transimpedance amplifier (TIA), a limiting amplifier (LA), and an input overload compensation circuit (IOCC). The simple IOCC improves the input overload current performance using a Wilson current mirror. The LA enables high gain and wide bandwidth by adopting a conventional Cherry–Hooper structure. Measurements showed a transimpedance gain of 96 dBΩ and a 3-dB bandwidth from 30 kHz to 8.9 GHz with a PIN-PD of 0.25-pF parasitic capacitance and 0.8 A/W responsivity. The dynamic range was from -21.8 to +3.7 dBm with a bit-error-rate of 10-12 and a pseudo-random binary sequence of 231 – 1. The core chip was fabricated with a 0.13-μm SiGe BiCMOS technology. The power dissipation was 98 mW from a 3.3-V supply, and the die area was 1.0 × 0.8 mm2.