A 60 GHz bandwidth differential linear TIA in 130 nm sige:C BiCMOS with < 5.5 pA/√Hz

A differential linear TIA implemented in a 130 nm SiGe: C BiCMOS technology with ft/fmax/BVcEo of 300 GHz/500 GHz/1.7 V is presented. It features a bandwidth of 60 GHz, 62.5 dBO differential transimpedance gain and 5.46 pA/√Hz averaged input-referred current noise density, while dissipating 85 mW of DC power. The measured THD is better than 3% for ~ 450 mVppd output swing and input current of 400 μApp. Clear NRZ eye diagrams up to 56 Gb/s, as well as PAM-4 eye diagrams up to 30 GBd are also reported. To the author's best knowledge, this design exhibits record low-noise performance among > 50 Gb/s-class silicon-based broadband TIAs towards 100/400 Gb/s optical links.