Demonstration of photonically controlled GaAs digital/MMIC for RF optical links

Author

Smith, Irl W. ; Sharp, Richard C. ; Ruiz, J. Alfredo ; Connell, Martin O. ; Kelsey, Adam ; Davis, Susan E. ; Chu, Shiou-lung G. ; Brunel, André ; Tabatabaie-Alavi, Kamal

Author_Institution

Res. Div., Raytheon Co., Lexington, MA, USA

Volume

45

Issue

1

fYear

1997

fDate

1/1/1997 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

15

Lastpage

22

Abstract

We report design, fabrication, and test of a monolithic GaAs optoelectronic integrated circuit (OEIC) implementing a broad-band optically driven digital/analog radio frequency (RF) interface. The integrated circuit (IC) was fabricated using a foundry-compatible enhancement/depletion metal-semiconductor field-effect transistor (MESFET) process with no added lithography steps. A single optical fiber carries externally amplitude modulated 0.85-μm light to the on-chip GaAs metal-semiconductor-metal interdigitated photodetector. RF as well as simultaneous digital information encoded at up to 10 Mb/s using a novel waveform set is transmitted over the fiber. The serial digital data is self-clocked into on-chip registers to control the RF signal chain, which includes a three-bit digital attenuator. The circuit operates in an asynchronous mode to detect digital and RF on the single optical-fiber input, control RF level, and transmit the 2-8-GHz RF to the IC´s electrical output. Measurements characterizing the RF and digital performance of the IC as well as a demonstration of the full optoelectronic mixed-mode functioning of the IC are presented

Keywords

III-V semiconductors; MESFET integrated circuits; digital communication; error detection; field effect MMIC; gallium arsenide; integrated optoelectronics; metal-semiconductor-metal structures; microwave links; mixed analogue-digital integrated circuits; optical communication equipment; optical fibre communication; optical interconnections; photodetectors; 0.85 micron; 10 Mbit/s; 2 to 8 GHz; GaAs; MSM interdigitated photodetector; RF optical links; asynchronous mode; broadband optically driven RF interface; digital/analog radiofrequency interface; enhancement/depletion MESFET process; fabrication; monolithic GaAs OEIC; optoelectronic integrated circuit; optoelectronic mixed-mode functioning; photonically controlled digital/MMIC; self-clocking; serial digital data; single optical-fiber input; three-bit digital attenuator; Digital control; Digital integrated circuits; Gallium arsenide; MESFET integrated circuits; MMICs; Optical attenuators; Optical control; Photonic integrated circuits; Radio frequency; Radiofrequency integrated circuits;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9480

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/22.552027

Filename

552027