Title :
Ultra-low-power 10 to 28.5 Gb/s CMOS-driven VCSEL-based optical links [Invited]
Author :
Proesel, Jonathan E. ; Lee, Benjamin G. ; Rylyakov, Alexander V. ; Baks, Christian W. ; Schow, Clint L.
Author_Institution :
IBM T. J. Watson Res. Center, Yorktown Heights, NY, USA
Abstract :
We report three 850 nm, vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL)-based optical links using 90 nm complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) circuits that achieve new records in speed and power efficiency. Two receiver (RX) circuit designs explore the tradeoffs between speed, power, and silicon area. The two RXs are first tested with a simple transmitter (TX), delivering full-link power efficiencies of 1.37 pJ/bit at 15 Gb/s and 3.6 pJ/bit at 25 Gb/s. An improved TX using feed-forward equalization (FFE) and an advanced VCSEL is then introduced. The link using the FFE TX achieves full-link power efficiencies of 1.5, 2.0, and 3.8 pJ/bit at 22.5, 25, and 28.5 Gb/s, respectively.
Keywords :
CMOS integrated circuits; feedforward; integrated optoelectronics; laser cavity resonators; optical design techniques; optical fibre testing; optical links; optical receivers; optical transmitters; semiconductor lasers; surface emitting lasers; CMOS circuits; FFE TX; RX circuit designs; advanced VCSEL; bit rate 10 Gbit/s to 28.5 Gbit/s; complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor circuits; feed-forward equalization; full-link power efficiencies; optical links; receiver circuit designs; silicon area; size 90 nm; speed efficiency; transmitter; ultralow-power CMOS-driven VCSEL; vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser; wavelength 850 nm; Bandwidth; CMOS integrated circuits; Inverters; Optical attenuators; Optical fiber communication; Vertical cavity surface emitting lasers; CMOS analog integrated circuits; Feedforward equalization (FFE); Optical receivers; Optical transmitters; Optoelectronic devices;
Journal_Title :
Optical Communications and Networking, IEEE/OSA Journal of
DOI :
10.1364/JOCN.4.00B114
