A 10-Gb/s laser diode driver in 0.35 μm BiCMOS technology

This paper describes the design of a 10Gb/s laser diode (LD) driver in a 0.35μm SiGe BiCMOS technology. The LD driver delivers a biased current up to 60 mA, and a modulation current ranges from 40 mA to 100 mA. High speed operation as well as high current driving capability are achieved by means of push-pull current switching scheme. In addition, negative Miller capacitor compensation technique is adopted to enhance the signal bandwidth. The output swing of the predriver is dynamically adjustable to compromise between operating speed and overshoot. Both the modulation and biased currents are derived from a bandgap reference source. The measured rise/fall time is 47ps, and timing jitter is 22.2ps_p-p. The eye diagrams meet the specifications defined by SONET OC-192 and 10G Ethernet eye mask. Operating under 3.3V/7V supply, the total power consumption is 1.38W. Chip size is 1430 x 940 μm².