InP DHBT integrated circuits for high speed and low power applications

Abstract

Indium Phosphide (InP) Double Hetero-junction Bipolar Transistor (DHBT) technology is characterized by high cut-off frequencies and large breakdown voltages. It is of great interest for the realization of integrated circuits operating at very high speed, with high swing and large analog bandwidth, like modulator drivers for Tb/s optical communications. In this paper, we present an overview of 0.7-μm InP DHBT high speed circuits targeting datacom and telecom fiber-optic applications. We discuss their design and performances, highlighting their power efficiency with respect to other transistor technologies. A 180-Gb/s multiplexing selector, a 64-GBd 3-bit Power DAC and a low power DFF are presented in detail.