A fully integrated CMOS light to logic fiber optic receiver circuit

A fully integrated fiber optic receiver chip in a CMOS technology is presented. The design was done in a low cost mixed signal analog pure CMOS technology with 0.35µm gate length. It incorporates all building blocks needed for standard fiber optic receiver application, e.g. transimpedance amplifier, post amplifier, signal detect and several control circuits. The chip works without any external components such as capacitors usually needed to ensure the broadband operation down to several tens of Kilohertz. Three designs were processed for typical data applications of 155MBd, 622MBd and 1,25GBd. The difference in the designs can be done by changing only one metal mask for programming some bandwidth and noise relevant circuits on the chip. The results in sensitivity, dynamic range and other behavior are fully compliant to the relevant standards as SONET or IEEE 802.3 (Gigabit Ethernet) and future IEEE 1394.