Integrated electronics in 130 nm CMOS process for quantum key distribution sender device.

Abstract

Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) is the most mature method for implementing commercial quantum communications in practice. As part of the miniaturization of practical QKD devices, an integrated electronic system in the 130 nm complementary metal oxide semiconductor process is presented for the QKD sender device. The electronics provide driving signals for the optics at the sender terminal of the quantum channel in QKD and consist mainly of three key modules, namely, a laser diode driver with a high slew rate, a high-speed physical random number generator, and a pre-driver for the electro-optic modulator. The electronic system is designed to operate at frequencies as high as 625-MHz to accommodate the frequency of the QKD system. The high degree of integration is advantageous for miniaturizing QKD sender devices.