10-gb/s operation of an In/sub 0.53/Ga/sub 0.47/As p-i-n photodiode on metamorphic InGaP buffered semi-insulating GaAs substrate

The SONET OC-192 receiving performance of In 0.53 Ga 0.47 As p-i-n photodiode grown on linearly graded metamorphic In x Ga 1-x P buffered GaAs substrate is reported. With a low-cost TO-46 package, such a device exhibits a frequency bandwidth up to 8 GHz, a bit-error rate (BER) of 10 -9 at 10 Gb/s, a sensitivity of -17.8 dBm, and a noise equivalent power of 3.4times10 -15 W/Hz 1/2 owing to its ultralow dark current of 3.6times10 -7 A/cm 2 . Eye diagram analysis at 10 Gb/s without transimpedance amplification reveals a statistically distributed Q-factor of 8.21, corresponding to a minimum BER of 1.1times10 -16 at receiving power of -6 dBm