A 1-Gb/s monolithically integrated silicon NMOS optical receiver

We report a monolithically integrated optical receiver consisting of a silicon NMOS transimpedance preamplifier paired with a lateral, interdigitated p-i-n photodiode. The photodiode´s quantum efficiency was 82% at 850 nm, and it exhibited a dark current of 300 pA at -30 V. At the optimal operating point, the preamplifier achieved a bandwidth of 500 MHz, a transimpedance of 51.4 dB·Ω and dissipated only 10.8 mW of power at a power supply voltage of 1.8 V. At a bit-error-rate of 10^-9, the receiver exhibited sensitivities of -22.8, -15.0, and -9.3 dBm at bit rates of 622 Mb/s, 900 Mb/s, and 1 Gb/s, respectively