An 1.25 Gbit/s -29 dBm burst-mode optical receiver realized with 0.35 μm SiGe BiCMOS process using a PIN photodiode

A 1.25Gbps high sensitivity burst-mode optical receiver is realized using TSMC 0.35 μm SiGe BiCMOS process. This burst-mode receiver uses PIN photodiode instead of expensive avalanche photodiode to achieve the sensitivity requirement of an OLT receiver in a PON system. With a 0.7 pF PIN photodiode, the measured optical sensitivity for 1310 nm light achieves -29 dBm at 1.25 Gbps under BER of 10^-12. For burst-mode operation, the receiver provides fully differential output within 50 ns after the start of an optical burst.