VLC Using 800-μm Diameter APD Receiver Integrated in Standard 0.35-μm BiCMOS Technology

The fully integrated 800 μm. diameter avalanche photodiode optical receiver is implemented in 0.35 μm BiCMOS technology without any process modifications. The integrated receiver reaches sensitivities of -33 dBm at 1 Gbit/s and -29.3 dBm at 2 Gbit/s. The reached sensitivities are well within the state-of-the-art of integrated avalanche photodiode receivers and can even be compared to a hybrid avalanche photodiode receiver comprised of high-performing commercial components. The performance of the designed receiver was verified in visible light communication experiments. The receiver could reach up to 16.5 m at 2 Gbit/s and 27 m at 1 Gbit/s of error free transmission distance using a 675-nm point laser source as transmitter. The common indoor illuminance levels up to 500 lux could be tolerated when pointed directly towards the receiver. High sensitivity and high speed make this integrated receiver suitable for future optical wireless communication systems, where due to its integrated nature the manufacturing cost can be lowered, and at the same time the design is compact in size and easy to assemble and scale. Furthermore, no optics is used in front of the receiver due to its large area resulting in a wide field of view.