Low-noise performance of monolithically integrated 12-Gb/s p-i-n/HEMT photoreceiver for long-wavelength transmission systems

A high-speed monolithically integrated photoreceiver using a pin photodiode and low-noise high-electron mobility transistor (HEMT)-based electrical amplifier is reported. The photoreceiver uses a three-stage transimpedance amplifier with a bandwidth of 8.3 GHz. An on-wafer average input-referred noise current spectral density of 8.82 pA/Hz
¹
2/ was measured for the photoreceivers. Operation of the photoreceivers at bit rates up to 12 Gb/s was experimentally verified, and bit-error-rate (BER) measurements were performed. The photoreceivers demonstrated a sensitivity of -17.7 dBm at 10 Gb/s and -15.8 dBm at 12 Gb/s for a BER of 10/sup -9/ and nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ), 2/sup 31/-1 pattern length pseudorandom bit sequence (PRBS) data at a wavelength of 1.55 μm. To the authors' knowledge, these are the first reported measured sensitivities for HEMT-based monolithic receivers using a long 2/sup 31/-1 pattern length at bit rates of 10 and 12 Gb/s, and represent the best directly measured sensitivities for monolithic HEMT-based photoreceivers at these bit rates.