Abstract
Optical links are rapidly becoming pervasive in the readout chains of particle physics detector systems. Silicon photonics (SiPh) stands as an attractive candidate to sustain the radiation levels foreseen in the next-generation experiments, while guaranteeing, at the same time, multi-Gb/s and energy-efficient data transmission. Integrated electronic drivers are needed to enable SiPh modulators’ deployment in compact on-detector front-end modules. A current-mode logic-based driver harnessing a pseudo-differential output stage is proposed in this work to drive different types of SiPh devices by means of the same circuit topology. The proposed driver, realized in a 65 nm bulk technology and already tested to behave properly up to an 8 MGy total ionizing dose, is hybridly integrated in this work with a lumped-element Mach–Zehnder modulator (MZM) and a ring modulator (RM), both fabricated in a 130 nm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process. Bit-error-rate (BER) performances confirm the applicability of the selected architecture to either differential and single-ended loads. A 5 Gb/s data rate, in line with the current high energy physics requirements, is achieved in the RM case, while a packaging-related performance degradation is captured in the MZM-based system, confirming the importance of interconnection modeling.
Highlights
Multi-Gb/s serial data links are largely deployed in high energy physics (HEP) environments to exchange data between on-detector readout modules and off-site processing electronics
Silicon photonics is emerging as a promising technology to realize multi-Gb/s optical links in the detector systems for future HEP experiments
Electronic application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) are needed to drive photonic modulators and make the electro-optical readout systems fit in compact hybrid modules
Summary
Multi-Gb/s serial data links are largely deployed in high energy physics (HEP) environments to exchange data between on-detector readout modules and off-site processing electronics. State-of-the-art radiation-tolerant optical links have been developed in the framework of versatile link (VL) and gigabit transceiver (GBT) projects and are deployed inside the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments at CERN [2,3]. They are currently based on both single-mode edge-emitting lasers (EELs) and multi-mode vertical cavity surface emitting. High-speed and radiation-resistant ASICs are needed to interface these photonic devices with the front-end electronics and make the complete readout units fit into compact modules.
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