Gigabit receiver ICs for optical communications

The authors discuss gigabit receiver ICs for optical communications, focusing on their circuit and package design, the performance of receivers that were fabricated, and their application to a 1.6 Gb/s optical receiver. The key technologies for the receivers are discussed, and a design based on these key technologies is proposed. The proposed design is used to fabricate six receiver ICs (eight chips) using an ultra-high-speed bipolar process with transistors having a unity gain bandwidth of 6-8 GHz. The receivers are suitable for long-haul optical transmission at bit rates up to 1.6 Gb/s. Experimental results show that the 1.6 Gb/s receiver has an optical dynamic range of more than 23 dB without any adjustment, and the received average optical power required to maintain a 10/sup -11/ error rate is less the -31 dBm.< >