A 25-Gb/s 5 × 5 mm2 Chip-Scale Silicon-Photonic Receiver Integrated With 28-nm CMOS Transimpedance Amplifier

We have developed a 5 × 5 mm
²
compact silicon-photonic receiver with a 28-nm CMOS transimpedance-amplifier (TIA) chip. The receiver chip was designed using a photonics—electronics convergence design technique for the realization of high-speed and high-efficiency operation because the interfaces of the optical and electrical components greatly influence the receiver characteristics. Optical pins were used to obtain easy optical alignment between the multimode fibers and the germanium photodetectors. An aluminum stripline between the PD and the TIA enhanced the 3-dB bandwidth because its characteristic impedance is greater than the TIA input impedance. Coplanar waveguides (CPWs) on the etched SOI wafer achieved a low insertion loss because the overlap between the electric fields of the CPWs and the silicon layer was reduced. We demonstrated 25-Gb/s error-free operation at both 25 and at 85 °C. The minimum sensitivities and power consumptions of the receivers were −11.0 dBm and 2.3 mW/Gb/s at 25 °C and −10.2 dBm and 2.5 mW/Gb/s at 85 °C, respectively. These results show that our receiver can be applied for practical use at high temperatures.