A 90-Gb/s Modulator Driver IC Based on Functional Distributed Circuits for Optical Transmission Systems

Yasuyuki SUZUKI  Zin YAMAZAKI  Masayuki MAMADA  

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Electronics   Vol.E93-C   No.8   pp.1266-1272
Publication Date: 2010/08/01
Online ISSN: 1745-1353
DOI: 10.1587/transele.E93.C.1266
Print ISSN: 0916-8516
Type of Manuscript: Special Section PAPER (Special Section on Heterostructure Microelectronics with TWHM 2009)
Category: III-V High-Speed Devices and Circuits
Keyword: 
driver circuits,  distributed amplifiers,  multiplexing,  high-speed integrated circuits,  impedance matching,  heterojunction bipolar transistors,  optical modulation,  optical communication,  

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Summary: 
A monolithic modulator driver IC based on InP HBTs with a new circuit topology -- called a functional distributed circuit (FDC) -- for over 80-Gb/s optical transmission systems has been developed. The FDC topology includes a wide-band amplifier designed using a distributed circuit, a digital function designed using a lumped circuit, and broadband impedance matching between the lumped circuit and distributed circuit to enable both wider bandwidth and digital functions. The driver IC integrated with a 2:1 multiplexing function produces 2.6-Vp-p (differential output: 5.2 Vp-p) and 2.4- Vp-p (differential output: 4.8 Vp-p) output-voltage swings with less than 450-fs and 530-fs rms jitter at 80 Gb/s and 90 Gb/s, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is equivalent to the highest data rate operation yet reported for monolithic modulator drivers. When it was mounted in a module, the driver IC successfully achieved electro-optical modulation using a dual-drive LiNbO3 Mach-Zehnder modulator up to 90 Gb/s. These results indicate that the FDC has the potential to realize high-speed and functional ICs for over-80-Gb/s transmission systems.