A 40 Gb/s PAM4 silicon microring resonator modulator transmitter in 65nm CMOS

Abstract

A silicon photonic microring resonator modulator transmitter utilizes a segmented pulsed-cascode output stage for voltage level control to achieve PAM4 modulation on a single microring device. The 65nm CMOS transmitter achieves 40Gb/s operation at 3.04mW/Gb/s when driving depletion-mode microring modulators with 4.4Vppd swing.