A low voltage low noise transimpedance amplifier for high-data-rate optical recievers

This paper presents a trans-impedance amplifier (TIA) circuit topology which can be employed in high-data-rate optical receivers. Compared to the conventional regulated cascode (RGC) topology, the proposed circuit requires lower supply voltage and power. Based on the proposed topology, a TIA is designed in a 180-nm CMOS technology. Post layout simulation results show that the circuit can be used in wide band optical communication systems. Consuming 2.3mW from a 1.8 V supply, the circuit has 20 GHz bandwidth and 44.5 dB gain with a 150 fF photo diode parasitic capacitor. The input referred noise of the circuit is lower than 22 pA/√Hz.