A 40 Gbit/s transimpedance amplifier in 0.25 μm SiGe technology with ultra low power consumption

In this work, a transimpedance amplifier for optical communication links up to 40 Gbit/s is developed. The amplifier is designed to operate in an integrated receiver front-end together with a commercially available photo diode. The amplifier circuit consists of a four-stage architecture with an optimized input impedance and a high transimpedance over a large bandwidth. Manufactured in a 0.25 mum SiGe-BiCMOS technology, the amplifier achieves a measured power gain of 31 dB and a measured transimpedance of 73 dB Omega over a bandwidth of 30 GHz. The circuit consumes 32 mW and the chip area amounts to 0.187 mm
²
including pads.