InP D-HBT ICs for 40-Gb/s and higher bitrate lightwave transceivers
01 September 2002
The combination of device speed (fT, fmax > 150 GHz) and breakdown voltage (Vbceo > 8 V) makes the double heterojunction bipolar InP-based transistor (D-HBT) an attractive technology to implement the most demanding analog functions of 40-Gb/s transceivers. This is illustrated by the performance of a number of analog circuits realized in an InP D-HBT technology with an 1.2- or 1.6-μm-wide emitter finger: a low phase noise push-push voltage-controlled oscillator with -7-dBm output power at 146 GHz, a 40-GHz bandwidth and low-jitter 40-Gb/s limiting amplifier, a lumped 40-Gb/s limiting driver amplifier with 4.5-Vpp differential output swing, a distributed 40-Gb/s driver amplifier with 6-Vpp differential output swing, and a number of distributed preamplifiers with up to 1.3-THz gain-bandwidth product.