High Gain Equalizing Amplifier Integrated Circuits for a Gigabit Optical Repeater

Equalizing amplifier circuits for a gigabit optical-fiber transmission system are integrated on two monolithic chips implementing an advanced silicon bipolar process. Several new circuit techniques such as a broad-band 50-/spl Omega/ matching amplifier and an electrically controlled and adjusted peaking technique are employed. It is clarified that the main degradation factors of circuit stability are parasitic capacitance between the input and output terminals, and the crosstalk occuring through the wire bonding inductance. The maximum gain and 3-dB down bandwidth of the equalizing amplifier IC's are 64 dB and 1.2 GHz, respectively. The noise figure obtained is 4.5 dB within the dc to 2-GHz range.