Optical receivers have many different uses covering simple infrared receivers, high speed fiber optic communication and light based instrumentation. All of them have an optical receiver that converts photons to current followed by a transimpedance amplifier to convert the current to a useful voltage. Different systems create different requirements for each receiver. High speed digital communication require high throughput with enough sensitivity to keep the bit error rate low. Instrumentation receivers have a lower bandwidth, but higher gain and sensitivity requirements. In this thesis an optical receiver for use in instrumentation in presented. It is an entirely monolithic design with the photodiodes on the same substrate as the CMOS circuitry. This allows for it to be built into a focal-plane array, but it places some restriction on the area. It is also designed for in-situ testing and must be able to cancel any low frequency noise caused by ambient light. The area restrictions prohibit the use of a DC blocking capacitor to reject the low frequency noise. In place a servo loop was wrapped around the system to reject any DC offset. A modified Cherry-Hooper architecture was used for the transimpedance amplifier. This provides the flexibility to create an amplifier with high gain and wide bandwidth that is independent of the input capacitance. The downside is the increased complexity of the design makes stability paramount to the design. Another drawback is the high noise associated with low input impedance that decouples the input capacitance from the bandwidth. This problem is compounded by the servo loop feed which leaves the output noise of some amplifiers directly referred to the input. An in depth analysis of each circuit block's noise contribution is presented.

The front-end of a typical optical receiver consists of a photodiode that converts optical signals into current signals. In order to process these optical signals using electronics, a Transimpedance Amplifier (TIA) is utilized to convert the photodiode current signals into voltage signals, which can then be processed in the voltage domain (amplified, digitized, etc.).

An expert guide to the new and emerging field of broadband circuits for optical fiber communication This exciting publication makes it easy for readers to enter into and deepen their knowledge of the new and emerging field of broadband circuits for optical fiber communication. The author's selection and organization of material have been developed, tested, and refined from his many industry courses and seminars. Five types of broadband circuits are discussed in detail: * Transimpedance amplifiers * Limiting amplifiers * Automatic gain control (AGC) amplifiers * Lasers drivers * Modulator drivers Essential background on optical fiber, photodetectors, lasers, modulators, and receiver theory is presented to help readers understand the system environment in which these broadband circuits operate. For each circuit type, the main specifications and their impact on system performance are explained and illustrated with numerical values. Next, the circuit concepts are discussed and illustrated with practical implementations. A broad range of circuits in MESFET, HFET, BJT, HBT, BiCMOS, and CMOS technologies is covered. Emphasis is on circuits for digital, continuous-mode transmission in the 2.5 to 40 Gb/s range, typically used in SONET, SDH, and Gigabit Ethernet applications. Burst-mode circuits for passive optical networks (PON) and analog circuits for hybrid fiber-coax (HFC) cable-TV applications also are discussed. Learning aids are provided throughout the text to help readers grasp and apply difficult concepts and techniques, including: * Chapter summaries that highlight the key points * Problem-and-answer sections to help readers apply their new knowledge * Research directions that point to exciting new technological breakthroughs on the horizon * Product examples that show the performance of actual broadband circuits * Appendices that cover eye diagrams, differential circuits, S parameters, transistors, and technologies * A bibliography that leads readers to more complete and in-depth treatment of specialized topics This is a superior learning tool for upper-level undergraduates and graduate-level students in circuit design and optical fiber communication. Unlike other texts that concentrate on analog circuits in general or mostly on optics, this text provides balanced coverage of electronic, optic, and system issues. Professionals in the fiber optic industry will find it an excellent reference, incorporating the latest technology and discoveries in the industry.

As the frequency of communication systems increases and the dimensions of transistors are reduced, more and more stringent performance requirements are placed on analog circuits. This is a trend that is bound to continue for the foreseeable future and while it does, understanding performance trade-offs will constitute a vital part of the analog design process. It is the insight and intuition obtained from a fundamental understanding of performance conflicts and trade-offs, that ultimately provides the designer with the basic tools necessary for effective and creative analog design. Trade-offs in Analog Circuit Design, which is devoted to the understanding of trade-offs in analog design, is quite unique in that it draws together fundamental material from, and identifies interrelationships within, a number of key analog circuits. The book covers ten subject areas: Design methodology, Technology, General Performance, Filters, Switched Circuits, Oscillators, Data Converters, Transceivers, Neural Processing, and Analog CAD. Within these subject areas it deals with a wide diversity of trade-offs ranging from frequency-dynamic range and power, gain-bandwidth, speed-dynamic range and phase noise, to tradeoffs in design for manufacture and IC layout. The book has by far transcended its original scope and has become both a designer's companion as well as a graduate textbook. An important feature of this book is that it promotes an intuitive approach to understanding analog circuits by explaining fundamental relationships and, in many cases, providing practical illustrative examples to demonstrate the inherent basic interrelationships and trade-offs. Trade-offs in Analog Circuit Design draws together 34 contributions from some of the world's most eminent analog circuits-and-systems designers to provide, for the first time, a comprehensive text devoted to a very important and timely approach to analog circuit design.

The only book on integrated circuits for optical communications that fully covers High-Speed IOs, PLLs, CDRs, and transceiver design including optical communication The increasing demand for high-speed transport of data has revitalized optical communications, leading to extensive work on high-speed device and circuit design. With the proliferation of the Internet and the rise in the speed of microprocessors and memories, the transport of data continues to be the bottleneck, motivating work on faster communication channels. Design of Integrated Circuits for Optical Communications, Second Edition deals with the design of high-speed integrated circuits for optical communication transceivers. Building upon a detailed understanding of optical devices, the book describes the analysis and design of critical building blocks, such as transimpedance and limiting amplifiers, laser drivers, phase-locked loops, oscillators, clock and data recovery circuits, and multiplexers. The Second Edition of this bestselling textbook has been fully updated with: A tutorial treatment of broadband circuits for both students and engineers New and unique information dealing with clock and data recovery circuits and multiplexers A chapter dedicated to burst-mode optical communications A detailed study of new circuit developments for optical transceivers An examination of recent implementations in CMOS technology This text is ideal for senior graduate students and engineers involved in high-speed circuit design for optical communications, as well as the more general field of wireline communications.

This textbook is ideal for senior undergraduate and graduate courses in RF CMOS circuits, RF circuit design, and high-frequency analog circuit design. It is aimed at electronics engineering students and IC design engineers in the field, wishing to gain a deeper understanding of circuit fundamentals, and to go beyond the widely-used automated design procedures. The authors employ a design-centric approach, in order to bridge the gap between fundamental analog electronic circuits textbooks and more advanced RF IC design texts. The structure and operation of the building blocks of high-frequency ICs are introduced in a systematic manner, with an emphasis on transistor-level operation, the influence of device characteristics and parasitic effects, and input–output behavior in the time and frequency domains. This second edition has been revised extensively, to expand some of the key topics, to clarify the explanations, and to provide extensive design examples and problems. New material has been added for basic coverage of core topics, such as wide-band LNAs, noise feedback concept and noise cancellation, inductive-compensated band widening techniques for flat-gain or flat-delay characteristics, and basic communication system concepts that exploit the convergence and co-existence of Analog and Digital building blocks in RF systems. A new chapter (Chapter 5) has been added on Noise and Linearity, addressing key topics in a comprehensive manner. All of the other chapters have also been revised and largely re-written, with the addition of numerous, solved design examples and exercise problems.