We present an interpretation of conventional figure-of-merit (FOM) and average input-referred noise current density (IRNCD) that characterizes optical receivers to determine how technologies and circuits best address energy efficiency. A design methodology is presented for differential optical receivers based on Cherry-Hooper Emitter Follower (CHEF) front-end designs targeting 56-Gbps applications is realized in a 130-nm SiGe BiCMOS process. The electrical measurements in a 50-Ω\Omega environment demonstrate data rates up to 112 Gbps and 84 Gbps for two design variants. In an open input and maximum gain configuration, the rms input referred noise currents are 3.59 μ\muARMSA_{RMS} and 2.41 μ\muARMSA_{RMS} and the corresponding average input referred noise current densities are 17.25 pA/Hz−−−√pA/\sqrt{Hz} and 12.86 pA/Hz−−−√pA/\sqrt{Hz}. The packaged electro-optical measurements of the receiver variants is carried out with a single commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) photodetector demonstrate open eyes at data rates up to 64 Gbps. At 60 Gbps, the receiver variants achieve a BER<10−10BER < 10^{-10} and BER<10−9BER < 10^{-9}. The total power consumption for the variants are 162 mW and 138 mW for overall energy efficiencies (with respect to electro-optical performance) of 2.53 pJ/bitpJ/bit and 2.3 pJ/bitpJ/bit.

中文翻译：

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基于 130 nm SiGe HBT 技术中 Cherry-Hooper 射极跟随器跨阻放大器前端的光接收器能量优化


我们对传统品质因数 (FOM) 和平均输入参考噪声电流密度 (IRNCD) 进行了解释，描述了光接收器的特性，以确定技术和电路如何最好地解决能源效率问题。提出了一种基于 Cherry-Hooper 发射极跟随器 (CHEF) 前端设计的差分光接收器的设计方法，该前端设计针对 56 Gbps 应用，并在 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS 工艺中实现。 50Ω\Omega 环境中的电气测量表明，两种设计变体的数据速率高达 112 Gbps 和 84 Gbps。在开路输入和最大增益配置中，均方根输入参考噪声电流为 3.59 μ\muARMSA_{RMS} 和 2.41 μ\muARMSA_{RMS}，相应的平均输入参考噪声电流密度为 17.25 pA/Hz−−−√pA /\sqrt{Hz} 和 12.86 pA/Hz−−−√pA/\sqrt{Hz}。接收器变体的封装电光测量是使用单个商用现成 (COTS) 光电探测器进行的，在高达 64 Gbps 的数据速率下展示了睁开的眼睛。在 60 Gbps 时，接收器变体可实现 BER<10−10BER < 10^{-10} 和 BER<10−9BER < 10^{-9}。两种变体的总功耗分别为 162 mW 和 138 mW，整体能效（相对于电光性能）分别为 2.53 pJ/bitpJ/bit 和 2.3 pJ/bitpJ/bit。