A 50–20 Gb/s, 80 mW Photonic Receiver With 59–70 dBΩ Gain and 12.3–8.2 pA/√Hz Input-Referred Noise

This letter presents the design and measurements of a monolithically integrated photonic receiver manufactured in 0.25 μm SiGe BiCMOS electro-photonic technology. The receiver consists of an on-chip germanium photodiode directly connected to the transimpedance amplifier (TIA). An on-chip, low-noise feedback loop compensates the dc photocurrent. The circuit provides a maximum bandwidth of 35.6 GHz at a gain of 59.2 dBQ with a noise of 12.34 pA/√(Hz) while consuming only 80 mW. In combination with a 20 GHz, 1550 nm electro-optical transmitter, a maximum data rate of 50 Gb/s at a bit error rate of less than 10
^-12
was measured. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the fastest error-free detected data rate reported for a monolithically integrated photonic receiver. Additionally, the feedback resistor of the TIA can be tuned via a MOSFET allowing error-free operation at 20 Gb/s with a sensitivity of only -13 dBm. In this setting the input-referred noise is only 8.16 pA/√(Hz).