SEMICONDUCTOR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

A high gain wide dynamic range transimpedance amplifier for optical receivers

Lianxi Liu1, 2, , Jiao Zou1, Yunfei En3, Shubin Liu1, Yue Niu1, Zhangming Zhu1, 2 and Yintang Yang1, 2

+ Author Affiliations

 Corresponding author: Liu Lianxi, Email:lxliu@mail.xidian.edu.cn, adam79416@126.com

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Abstract: As the front-end preamplifiers in optical receivers, transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs) are commonly required to have a high gain and low input noise to amplify the weak and susceptible input signal. At the same time, the TIAs should possess a wide dynamic range (DR) to prevent the circuit from becoming saturated by high input currents. Based on the above, this paper presents a CMOS transimpedance amplifier with high gain and a wide DR for 2.5 Gbit/s communications. The TIA proposed consists of a three-stage cascade pull push inverter, an automatic gain control circuit, and a shunt transistor controlled by the resistive divider. The inductive-series peaking technique is used to further extend the bandwidth. The TIA proposed displays a maximum transimpedance gain of 88.3 dBΩ with the -3 dB bandwidth of 1.8 GHz, exhibits an input current dynamic range from 100 nA to 10 mA. The output voltage noise is less than 48.23 nV/$\sqrt {{\rm{Hz}}}$ within the -3 dB bandwidth. The circuit is fabricated using an SMIC 0.18 μm 1P6M RFCMOS process and dissipates a dc power of 9.4 mW with 1.8 V supply voltage.

Key words: transimpedance amplifierhigh gaininductive-series peakingwide dynamic range



[1]
Kamrani E, Sawan M. Fully integrated CMOS avalanche photodiode and distributed-gain TIA for CW-fNIRS. IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference, San Francisco, CA, 2011:317 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6107791/
[2]
Micusik D, Zimmermann H. A 240 MHz-BW 112 dB-DR TIA. IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, San Francisco, CA, 2007:554
[3]
Huang Beiju, Zhang Xu, Chen Hongda. 1-Gb/s zero-pole cancellation CMOS transimpedance amplifier for Gigabit Ethernet applications. Journal of Semiconductors, 2009, 30(10):105005 doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/30/10/105005
[4]
Tian Jun, Wang Zhigong, Liang Bangli, et al. A CMOS 1.4 THzΩ 155 Mb/s differential transimpedance preamplifier for optical receiver. Chinese Journal of Semiconductors, 2004, 25(11):1486
[5]
Xu Hui, Feng Jun, Liu Quan, et al. A 3.125-Gb/s inductorless transimpedance amplifier for optical communication in 0.35μm CMOS. Journal of Semiconductors, 2011, 32(10):105003 doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/32/10/105003
[6]
Aznar F, Celma S, Calvo B, et al. A 0.18μm CMOS integrated transimpedance amplifier-equalizer for 2.5 Gb/s. 53rd IEEE International Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems, Seattle, WA, 2010, 40:604
[7]
Micusik D, Zimmermann H. 130 dB-DR transimpedance amplifier with monotonic logarithmic compression and high-current monitor. IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, San Francisco, CA, 2008:78 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4523065/?arnumber=4523065&sortType%3Dasc_p_Sequence%26filter%3DAND(p_IS_Number:4523032)%26rowsPerPage%3D75
[8]
Guermaz M B, Bouzerara L, Escid H, et al. Low-noise and high-bandwidth 0.8μm CMOS transimpedance amplifier for optical receiver circuit. Journal of Circuits, Systems, and Computers, 2005, 14(2):267 doi: 10.1142/S0218126605002258
[9]
Sansen W M C. Analog design essentials. The International Series in Engineering and Computer Science, 2006, 859:391
[10]
Hammoudi E, Mokhtar A. 2.75 GHz low noise 0.35μm CMOS transimpedance amplifier. 18th Mediterranean Conference on Control & Automation, Marrakech, Morocco, 2010:928
[11]
Xue Zhaofeng, Li Zhiqun, Wang Zhigong, et al. A low noise 1.25Gb/s front-end amplifier for optical receivers. Chinese Journal of Semiconductors, 2006, 27(8):1373 http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTOTAL-BDTX200608008.htm
[12]
Yu G, Zou X, Zhang L, et al. A low-noise high-gain transimpedance amplifier with high dynamic range in 0.13μm CMOS. IEEE International Symposium on Radio-Frequency Integration Technology, Singapore, Singapore, 2012:37
[13]
Hassan M, Zimmermann H. An 85 dB dynamic range transimpedance amplifier in 40 nm CMOS technology. IEEE NORCHIP, Lund, 2011:1
[14]
[15]
[16]
Fig. 1.  (a) A single stage of the push-pull inverter. (b) The equivalent small signal model.

Fig. 2.  The improved complete TIA circuit.

Fig. 3.  (a) The transimpedance gain versus frequency response of the TIA. (b) DC-transfer characteristic of the TIA.

Fig. 4.  (a) The transient response for the output voltage versus input current at different process corners. (b) The output noise of the TIA.

Fig. 5.  The histograms of the output voltage signal when (a) $I_{\rm in}$ $=$ 100 nA, (b) $I_{\rm in}$ $=$ 1 $\mu $A, (c) $I_{\rm in}$ $=$ 1 mA, (d) $I_{\rm in}$ $=$ 10 mA.

Table 1.   Performance summary of the proposed TIA: comparison with other works.

[1]
Kamrani E, Sawan M. Fully integrated CMOS avalanche photodiode and distributed-gain TIA for CW-fNIRS. IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference, San Francisco, CA, 2011:317 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6107791/
[2]
Micusik D, Zimmermann H. A 240 MHz-BW 112 dB-DR TIA. IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, San Francisco, CA, 2007:554
[3]
Huang Beiju, Zhang Xu, Chen Hongda. 1-Gb/s zero-pole cancellation CMOS transimpedance amplifier for Gigabit Ethernet applications. Journal of Semiconductors, 2009, 30(10):105005 doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/30/10/105005
[4]
Tian Jun, Wang Zhigong, Liang Bangli, et al. A CMOS 1.4 THzΩ 155 Mb/s differential transimpedance preamplifier for optical receiver. Chinese Journal of Semiconductors, 2004, 25(11):1486
[5]
Xu Hui, Feng Jun, Liu Quan, et al. A 3.125-Gb/s inductorless transimpedance amplifier for optical communication in 0.35μm CMOS. Journal of Semiconductors, 2011, 32(10):105003 doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/32/10/105003
[6]
Aznar F, Celma S, Calvo B, et al. A 0.18μm CMOS integrated transimpedance amplifier-equalizer for 2.5 Gb/s. 53rd IEEE International Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems, Seattle, WA, 2010, 40:604
[7]
Micusik D, Zimmermann H. 130 dB-DR transimpedance amplifier with monotonic logarithmic compression and high-current monitor. IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, San Francisco, CA, 2008:78 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4523065/?arnumber=4523065&sortType%3Dasc_p_Sequence%26filter%3DAND(p_IS_Number:4523032)%26rowsPerPage%3D75
[8]
Guermaz M B, Bouzerara L, Escid H, et al. Low-noise and high-bandwidth 0.8μm CMOS transimpedance amplifier for optical receiver circuit. Journal of Circuits, Systems, and Computers, 2005, 14(2):267 doi: 10.1142/S0218126605002258
[9]
Sansen W M C. Analog design essentials. The International Series in Engineering and Computer Science, 2006, 859:391
[10]
Hammoudi E, Mokhtar A. 2.75 GHz low noise 0.35μm CMOS transimpedance amplifier. 18th Mediterranean Conference on Control & Automation, Marrakech, Morocco, 2010:928
[11]
Xue Zhaofeng, Li Zhiqun, Wang Zhigong, et al. A low noise 1.25Gb/s front-end amplifier for optical receivers. Chinese Journal of Semiconductors, 2006, 27(8):1373 http://en.cnki.com.cn/Article_en/CJFDTOTAL-BDTX200608008.htm
[12]
Yu G, Zou X, Zhang L, et al. A low-noise high-gain transimpedance amplifier with high dynamic range in 0.13μm CMOS. IEEE International Symposium on Radio-Frequency Integration Technology, Singapore, Singapore, 2012:37
[13]
Hassan M, Zimmermann H. An 85 dB dynamic range transimpedance amplifier in 40 nm CMOS technology. IEEE NORCHIP, Lund, 2011:1
[14]
[15]
[16]
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    Received: 20 May 2013 Revised: 12 July 2013 Online: Published: 01 January 2014

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      Lianxi Liu, Jiao Zou, Yunfei En, Shubin Liu, Yue Niu, Zhangming Zhu, Yintang Yang. A high gain wide dynamic range transimpedance amplifier for optical receivers[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2014, 35(1): 015001. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/35/1/015001 L X Liu, J Zou, Y F En, S B Liu, Y Niu, Z M Zhu, Y T Yang. A high gain wide dynamic range transimpedance amplifier for optical receivers[J]. J. Semicond., 2014, 35(1): 015001. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/35/1/015001.Export: BibTex EndNote
      Citation:
      Lianxi Liu, Jiao Zou, Yunfei En, Shubin Liu, Yue Niu, Zhangming Zhu, Yintang Yang. A high gain wide dynamic range transimpedance amplifier for optical receivers[J]. Journal of Semiconductors, 2014, 35(1): 015001. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/35/1/015001

      L X Liu, J Zou, Y F En, S B Liu, Y Niu, Z M Zhu, Y T Yang. A high gain wide dynamic range transimpedance amplifier for optical receivers[J]. J. Semicond., 2014, 35(1): 015001. doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/35/1/015001.
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      A high gain wide dynamic range transimpedance amplifier for optical receivers

      doi: 10.1088/1674-4926/35/1/015001
      Funds:

      the National High-Tech Program of China 2013AA014103

      Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61376033, 61006028), the National High-Tech Program of China (Nos. 2012AA012302, 2013AA014103), and the Opening Project of Science and Technology on Reliability Physics and Application Technology of Electronic Component Laboratory

      the National Natural Science Foundation of China 61006028

      the National Natural Science Foundation of China 61376033

      Application Technology of Electronic Component Laboratory 

      the Opening Project of Science and Technology on Reliability Physics 

      the National High-Tech Program of China 2012AA012302

      More Information
      • Corresponding author: Liu Lianxi, Email:lxliu@mail.xidian.edu.cn, adam79416@126.com
      • Received Date: 2013-05-20
      • Revised Date: 2013-07-12
      • Published Date: 2014-01-01

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