SiGe BiCMOS linear modulator drivers with 4.8-V_pp differential output swing for 120-GBaud applications

Abstract

Two linear, large-swing distributed amplifiers (DAs) are reported for future 120-GBaud fiber-optic systems. The measured differential gain and bandwidth are over 20 dB and 70 GHz, respectively, and the P <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1dB</sub> is -2.5 dBm. Eye diagram measurements with at least 4.8-V <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">pp</sub> differential swing were performed for NRZ signals up to a record 120 Gb/s, and with 4-PAM and 8-PAM signals up to 64 GBaud, with the symbol rate limited by the speed and ENOB of the arbitrary waveform generator. As well, a bit error rate better than 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-12</sup> is demonstrated at 64 Gb/s.