Design and stability analysis of a CMOS feedback laser driver

A feedback laser driver circuit has been developed to control the average optical output power of a double heterostructure CW laser diode and also to operate with a wideband amplitude modulation. The average light power monitoring is realized by measuring the photoelectric current of a photodiode integrated inside the package of the laser diode. Safety features, including transient signal suppression, protect the laser against excessive light power. To obtain responses that are not out of the absolute maximum ratings of the laser diode light power, a study of the feedback loop stability is necessary. Two transconductance structures, using inverting and noninverting circuits are compared using the dominant pole compensation method. Then, the more stable driver circuit is analyzed and integrated using CMOS technology.