A monolithic high modulation efficiency CMOS laser diode / modulator driver

A high modulation efficiency laser diode/modulator driver (LDD/MD) is designed for low-cost optical access networks using shunt peaking active inductors and direct-coupled topology to boost the bandwidth, to improve modulation efficiency, and to reduce the silicon area. It provides a maximum modulation current of 74mA or a maximum modulation voltage of 3.9V through an equivalent 50Ω load. Fully-open optical eye diagrams were observed at bit rate up to 1.25-Gb/s when it used as a LDD or a MD. The maximum RMS jitter is 38ps. The 0.4mm
²
chip consumes only 470mW in 5V 0.6µm standard CMOS.