A 60 dB gain 55 dB dynamic range 10 Gb/s broadband SiGe HBT limiting amplifier

Author

Greshishchev, Y. ; Schvan, P.

Author_Institution

Nortel Networks, Ottawa, Ont., Canada

fYear

1999

fDate

17-17 Feb. 1999

Firstpage

382

Lastpage

383

Abstract

This limiting amplifier IC is implemented in a silicon-germanium (SiGe) HBT technology for low-cost 10 Gb/s fibre-optic applications. The IC employs 20 dB gain limiting cells, input overload protection, split analog/digital grounds and on-chip isolation interface with transmission lines. Sensitivity is 3.5 mV/sub pp/ at 10/sup -9/ BER with 2 V/sub pp/ maximum input and differential output. The gain is over 60 dB and S/sub 21/ bandwidth exceeds 15 GHz at 10 mVpp input. AM to PM conversion is less than 5 ps across a three-decade range of input amplitude.

Keywords

Ge-Si alloys; bipolar analogue integrated circuits; heterojunction bipolar transistors; integrated optoelectronics; optical communication equipment; optical fibre communication; optical limiters; semiconductor materials; wideband amplifiers; 10 Gbit/s; 15 GHz; 60 dB; AM to PM conversion; S/sub 21/ bandwidth; SiGe; broadband HBT limiting amplifier; differential output; fibre-optic applications; input overload protection; low-cost applications; on-chip isolation interface; split analog/digital grounds; Analog integrated circuits; Application specific integrated circuits; Broadband amplifiers; Digital integrated circuits; Dynamic range; Gain; Germanium silicon alloys; Heterojunction bipolar transistors; Isolation technology; Silicon germanium;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Solid-State Circuits Conference, 1999. Digest of Technical Papers. ISSCC. 1999 IEEE International

Conference_Location

San Francisco, CA

ISSN

0193-6530

Print_ISBN

0-7803-5126-6

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ISSCC.1999.759305

Filename

759305