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30.6 A 6V Swing 3.6% THD >40GHz Driver with 4.5× Bandwidth Extension for a 272Gb/s Dual-Polarization 16-QAM Silicon Photonic Transmitter
Abstract
Traditionally, the high-performance optical coherent communication TX has been a discrete assembly based on LiNbO3modulators and III-V drivers. While delivering high bandwidth (BW) and linearity, such a platform is bulky and does not work for high-volume or intra-datacenter applications. Silicon photonics (SiPh) offers a Si-based platform for next-generation transceivers by integrating all required optical functions. But even in existing SiPH-based commercial modules, the driver generally remains a III-V-based chipset, impeding the path to an all-silicon solution. The challenge for an all-silicon-based coherent optical TX is in the simultaneous requirement of high differential voltage swing (Vppd), linearity and BW. In this work, we present a 130nmSiGe driver achieving a 6Vppdswing, 3.6% THD and small-signal BW over 40GHz. Co-packaged with a SiPh transceiver, the driver enables the same level of performance as LiNbO3modulators with III-V drivers and demonstrates 272Gb/s dual-polarization (DP)-160AM transmission. This is enabled using (1) circuit techniques that achieve a BW extension ratio (BWER) of $4.5\times $ for the Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) driver while simultaneously achieving large swing ($\mathrm {V}_{\mathrm {p}\mathrm {p}\mathrm {d}}$=6V), high linearity (THD $=3.6$%) and mitigating breakdown voltage (BV) and reliability concerns with large Vppd; (2) pre-emphasis control in the driver output stage and gain control in the pre-driver VGA to compensate for the electro-optic (E/0) BW of the TX over corners; and (3) a monolithic integration of MZMs with a polarization rotator (PR) optimized for high-BW, low-crosstalk and co-integration with drivers for DP-OAM and DP-OPSK operation.
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Coherent transceivers in silicon photonics/electronics platforms proved that the technology could compete in performance with their LiNbO3 photonic and III-V electronic counterparts.
“Coherent transceivers in silicon photonics/electronics platforms proved that the technology could compete in performance with their LiNbO3 photonic and III-V electronic counterparts23–25.”
From Roadmapping the next generation of silicon photonics (2024) · cites this paper as [25]
Most of the silicon photonic transceivers in HVM today are based on a 2.5D integration approach, where the PIC and EIC(s) are designed, sized, optimized, tested in their best respective processes, and then flip-chipped to an interposer substrate.
“Most of the silicon photonic transceivers in HVM today are based on a 2.5D integration approach, where the PIC and EIC(s) are designed, sized, optimized, tested in their best respective processes, and then flip-chipped to an interposer substrate17,19,24,25,137”
From Roadmapping the next generation of silicon photonics (2024) · cites this paper as [25]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Ahmed, A. H., Lim, D., Elmoznine, A., Ma, Y., Huynh, T., Williams, C., Vera, L., Liu, Y., Shi, R., Streshinsky, M., Novack, A., Ding, R., Younce, R., Sukkar, R., Roman, J., Hochberg, M., Shekhar, S., & Rylyakov, A.
- Affiliations
- University of British Columbia (CA)
- ORCID
- Venue
- 2019 IEEE International Solid- State Circuits Conference - (ISSCC)
- Publisher
- IEEE
- Published
- 2019-02
- Pages
- 484-486
- ISSN
- 0193-6530 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2921171294
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 5.97
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Digest of technical papers/Digest of technical papers - IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Photonic and Optical Devices
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Optical Network Technologies
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Semiconductor Lasers and Optical Devices
- Keywords
- 16-QAM, dual-polarization transmission, bandwidth extension, total harmonic distortion, Mach-Zehnder modulator, polarization rotator, pre-emphasis, gain control, electro-optic bandwidth, breakdown voltage, monolithic integration, coherent optical communication
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