An Energy Efficient 56 Gbps PAM-4 VCSEL Transmitter Enabled by a 100 Gbps Driver in 0.25 µm InP DHBT Technology

Journal article, 2016

Datacenters demand higher speed VCSEL-based optical interconnects at low power consumption. As a potential technology enabler, this paper presents a wide bandwidth and energy efficient multilevel PAM VCSEL driver implemented in an InP 0.25 μm double heterojunction bipolar transistor (DHBT) technology. The operational bandwidth of the driver is verified and error-free electrical data transmission up to 56 Gbps PAM-2 and 100 Gbps PAM-4 is demonstrated at a driver energy consumption less than 2 pJ/bit. The driver is integrated and tested with an in-house fabricated 850 nm VCSEL. Error-free 56 Gbps PAM-4 optical transmission at a transmitter energy consumption of 3.7 pJ/bit is demonstrated without equalization. This is the highest data rate reported for an integrated PAM-4 modulated VCSEL transmitter, while being the most energy efficient above 40 Gbps operation. Moreover, the VCSEL driver offers a pre-emphasis feature at PAM-2 operation for improved link throughput and receiver sensitivity.