Suitability of present silicon bipolar IC technologies for optical fibre transmission rates around and above 10 Gbit/s

Abstract

The work is intended to give system designers an impression of the bit rates that will be achievable with the various electronic components of future optical fibre transmission systems if silicon bipolar technologies are applied. To this end, basic ICs were simulated and designed on the basis of a state-of-the-art laboratory technology. As has already been shown in an earlier work [1], there is a large variation in maximum achievable speeds between the different electronic components, but most of them are expected to work at 10 Gbit/s, some of them even at 20 Gbit/s and above. The most problematic component in 10 Gbit/s long-haul trunk lines will be the preamplifier because of the high-sensitivity (i.e. low-noise) requirements. The modelling and design techniques used were successfully checked by comparing the simulated and measured results of a static 15 GHz frequency divider produced with the same technology.