A 40 Gb/s 4 Vpp IQ modulator driver in 0.13 µm SiGe:C BiCMOS technology for 25 Ω Mach-Zehnder Modulators

In this work, a modulator driver in 0.13 μm SiGe:C BiCMOS technology for 25 Ω travelling wave electrode (TWE) Mach-Zehnder Modulators (MZM) is presented. The design integrates two channels for differential driving of IQ signals. The driver delivers a differential output signal of 4 Vpp, exhibits a differential gain of 12 dB and has an output return loss better than 9 dB. It works from a 4.7 V supply and dissipates 1.1 W per channel. Data rate of 40 Gb/s is demonstrated by time-domain measurements. To the best knowledge of the authors, this is the first time a design of a driver suitable for 25 Ω TWE MZMs is presented.