A Design and Packaging Technique for a High-Gain, Gigahertz-Band Single-Chip Amplifier

Equalizing amplifiers for gigabit optical fiber transmission systems requires a 65-dB gain (S21) with a gigahertz bandwidth. However, this gain has the potential to cause significant parasitic oscillation. Consequently, developing a useful stabilization design technique is a very important factor in attaining practical design. In this paper, stabilization design techniques are described for circuit configurations, packaging, and stability assessment. In addition, fabrication results of amplifier IC based on bipolar super self-aligned process technology (SST) and new wide-band high isolation package with coaxial-like 50-Ω signal lines are also shown. A 65-dB gain, 1.3-GHz bandwidth single-chip amplifier has been successfully fabricated.