A 150-Mb/s CMOS monolithic optical receiver for plastic optical fiber link

This paper describes a 150-Mb/s monolithic optical receiver for plastic optical fiber link using a standard CMOS technology. The receiver integrates a photodiode using an N-well/P-substrate junction, a pre amplifier, a post amplifier, and an output driver. The size, PN-junction type, and the number of metal fingers of the photodiode are optimized to meet the link requirements. The N-well/P-substrate photodiode has a 200-μm by 200-μm optical window, 0.1-A/W responsivity, 7.6-pF junction capacitance and 113-MHz bandwidth. The monolithic receiver can successfully convert 150-Mb/s optical signal into digital data through up to 30-m plastic optical fiber link with -10.4 dBm of optical sensitivity. The receiver occupies 0.56-mm ² area including electrostatic discharge protection diodes and bonding pads. To reduce unnecessary power consumption when the light is not over threshold or not modulating, a simple light detector and a signal detector are introduced. In active mode, the receiver core consumes 5.8-mA DC currents at 150-Mb/s data rate from a single 3.3 V supply, while consumes only 120 μW in the sleep mode.