Low-noise Transimpedance Amplifier Research Articles

A New Circuit Topology for the Realization of Very Low-Noise Wide-Bandwidth Transimpedance Amplifier

In this paper, after discussing some important limitations of the most common circuital configuration that is used for the realization of very low-noise transimpedance amplifiers, we propose and analyze a new circuit topology which allows us to obtain significant advantages as far as equivalent input current noise and bandwidth (BW) are concerned. We present a simple circuit implementation of the new transimpedance amplifier, together with the results of its noise characterization. The comparison between these measurements and those obtained on a conventional transimpedance amplifier with the same transimpedance gain has confirmed that the proposed approach allows us to obtain a lower background noise and a larger BW for the same transimpedance gain.

Electronic performance of 2D-UV detectors

With the aim of contributing to the development of two-dimensional UV and X-ray detectors, also stimulated to evaluate specific amplification, handling and addressing electronics, we present a 16-pixel matrix sensor based on high quality polycrystalline diamond. Thick polycrystalline diamond specimens, in the 0.2–0.6 mm range, have been used for the tests and the development of the prototype. Crossed 1 mm large chromium strips have then been realized by lithography on the metal deposited on both the two sample surfaces. The single pixel structure of a matrix appears like a metal-diamond-metal vertical device with a volume which is directly related to the diamond thickness (0.2–0.6 mm 3). Initially, to evaluate the sensor-grade quality of the diamond films, each pixel has been characterized by means of: I– V characteristic in the dark and under ns pulsed excimer laser irradiation; linearity with the photon flux; spectral photoresponse in the 200–1000 nm range. The lateral charge collection at the non-illuminated sensing elements has also been measured to estimate the cross-talk between pixels. Successive tests have been devoted to study the whole matrix response by addressing the pixels singly through the realized electronics both in CW and chopped monochromatic UV illumination. The implemented low-noise transimpedance amplifiers (1 V/1 nA) showed a good linearity whereas the bandwidth was limited just to 20 Hz. Finally, the intensity distribution of a 1 × 1 cm 2 monochromatic UV beam, extracted by a xenon discharge lamp source, as acquired by a realized prototype is illustrated and analyzed.

3D detectors—state of the art

3D detectors, with electrodes penetrating through the silicon substrate were fabricated, and characteristics such as speed, radiation hardness and edge sensitivity were studied. The signal shape was observed using a fast, low-noise transimpedance amplifier. The rise time of the signal obtained for a minimum ionizing particle was faster than 3 ns at room temperature. This is in agreement with earlier calculations of 3D sensors that showed the charge collection time to be between 1 and 2 ns. Similar tests were performed on detectors after exposure to proton beams with doses ( 1.8 × 10 15 24 GeV protons / cm 2 ) equivalent to those expected after 10 years at the innermost layers of the ATLAS experiment at the large hadron collider (LHC). Edge sensitivity was measured at the advanced light source at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, using an X-ray micro-beam. The detectors were measured to be efficient up to less than 10 μ m from their physical edges. Results presented in this paper confirm the suitability of this design for possible future LHC upgrades, where the integrated fluence is expected to increase by a factor of 10. Moreover, their speed characteristics have placed them as potential candidates for the CERN linear collider (CLIC) where the bunch-crossing separation can be as short as 1.2 ns.

Large-area, low-noise, high-speed, photodiode-based fluorescence detectors with fast overdrive recovery

Two large-area, low-noise, high-speed fluorescence detectors have been built. One detector consists of a photodiode with an area of 28mm×28mm and a low-noise transimpedance amplifier. This detector has a input light-equivalent spectral noise density of less than 3pW∕Hz, can recover from a large scattered light pulse within 10μs, and has a bandwidth of at least 900 kHz. The second detector consists of a 16–mm-diam avalanche photodiode and a low-noise transimpedance amplifier. This detector has an input light-equivalent spectral noise density of 0.08pW∕Hz, also can recover from a large scattered light pulse within 10μs, and has a bandwidth of 1 MHz.

Optical receiver IC for CD/DVD/blue-laser application

In this paper, an optoelectronic receiver IC for CD, DVD, and Blue-Laser optical data storage applications is presented. The IC was developed in a 0.5-/spl mu/m BiCMOS technology with integrated PIN photodiodes. It includes a new architecture of high-speed and low-noise variable gain transimpedance amplifiers witch current preamplifier input. The amplifier transimpedance gain is programmable over a gain range of 130 /spl Omega/ to 270 k/spl Omega/ by a serial interface. The amplifier small-signal bandwidth is 260 MHz for the highest gain, which gives a gain-bandwidth product of 70 THz/spl Omega/ and a sensitivity improvement by a factor of 2 compared to published OEICs. The amplifiers support a special write/clip mode which realizes a nonlinear gain reduction for high input signals. The output voltage buffers are 130-/spl Omega/ impedance matched for optimized data transmission over a flex cable. The impedance is generated by active-impedance synthesis to increase the output dynamic range.

Design of a low-power 3.5-GHz broad-band CMOS transimpedance amplifier for optical transceivers

This paper describes a novel low-power low-noise CMOS voltage-current feedback transimpedance amplifier design using a low-cost Agilent 0.5-/spl mu/m 3M1P CMOS process technology. Theoretical foundations for this transimpedance amplifier by way of gain, bandwidth and noise analysis are developed. The bandwidth of the amplifier was extended using the inductive peaking technique, and, simulation results indicated a -3-dB bandwidth of 3.5 GHz with a transimpedance gain of /spl ap/60 dBohms. The dynamic range of the amplifier was wide enough to enable an output peak-to-peak voltage swing of around 400 mV for a test input current swing of 100 /spl mu/A. The output noise voltage spectral density was 12 nV//spl radic/Hz (with a peak of /spl ap/25 nV//spl radic/Hz), while the input-referred noise current spectral density was below 20 pA//spl radic/Hz within the amplifier frequency band. The amplifier consumes only around 5 mA from a 3.3-V power supply. A test chip implementing the transimpedance amplifier was also fabricated using the low-cost CMOS process.

LOW-NOISE AND HIGH-BANDWIDTH 0.8 μm CMOS TRANSIMPEDANCE AMPLIFIER FOR OPTICAL RECEIVER CIRCUIT

This paper describes and analyzes a low-noise and high-bandwidth transimpedance amplifier featuring a large dynamic range. The designed amplifier is configured on three identical stages that use an active load compensated by an active resistor to improve the stability performance of the amplifier. This topology displays a transimpedance gain of 150 kΩ, which is necessary to obtain a high sensitivity. This structure operates at 5 V power supply voltage, exhibits a gain bandwidth product of 18 THzΩ and a low-noise level of about [Formula: see text]. This transimpedance amplifier can reach a transmission speed of 240 Mb/s for a photocurrent of 0.5 μA. For a photocurrent of 9.5 μA, a transmission speed of 622 Mb/s can be achieved by using an optical fiber connection containing four channels. The predicted performance is verified by simulations using PSPICE and MAGIC tools with 0.8 μm CMOS AMS parameters.

Characterization of 13 and 30 μm thick hydrogenated amorphous silicon diodes deposited over CMOS integrated circuits for particle detection application

We present the experimental results obtained with a novel monolithic silicon pixel detector which consists in depositing a n–i–p hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) diode straight above the readout ASIC (this technology is called Thin Film on ASIC, TFA). The characterization has been performed on 13 and 30 μm thick a-Si:H films deposited on top of an ASIC containing a linear array of high-speed low-noise transimpedance amplifiers designed in a 0.25 μm CMOS technology. Experimental results presented have been obtained with a 600 nm pulsed laser. The results of charge collection efficiency and charge collection speed of these structures are discussed.

A high-speed low-noise transimpedance amplifier in a 0.25 μm CMOS technology

We present the simulated and measured performance of a transimpedance amplifier designed in a quarter micron CMOS process. Containing only NMOS and PMOS devices, this amplifier can be integrated in any submicron CMOS process. The main feature of this design is the use of a transistor in the feedback path instead of a resistor. The circuit has been optimized for reading signals coming from silicon strip detectors with few pF input capacitance. For an input charge of 4 fC, an input capacitance of 4 pF and a transresistance of 135 kΩ, we have measured an output pulse fall time of 3 ns and an Equivalent Noise Charge (ENC) of around 350 electrons rms. In view of the operation of the chip at cryogenic temperatures, measurements at 130 K have also been carried out, showing an overall improvement in the performance of the chip. Fall times down to 1.5 ns have been measured. An integrated circuit containing 32 channels has been designed and wire bonded to a silicon strip detector and successfully used for the construction of a high-intensity proton beam hodoscope for the NA60 experiment. The chip has been laid out using special techniques to improve its radiation tolerance, and it has been irradiated up to 10 Mrd (SiO 2) without any degradation in the performance.

A SiGe BiCMOS burst-mode 155-Mb/s receiver for PON

In this paper, we present an integrated 155-Mb/s burst-mode receiver (BMR) for passive optical network (PON) applications. The chip has been designed to receive optical signals over a wide dynamic range (-30 to -8 dBm) and temperature range (-40/spl deg/C to +85/spl deg/C). The chip was implemented using a 0.8-/spl mu/m 35-GHz SiGe BiCMOS technology and occupies an area of 4.3/spl times/4.9 mm/sup 2/ with a power consumption of 500 mW from a supply voltage of 5 V (3.3 V for the digital PECL output). In the receiver analog front end, we used a low-noise wide-band transimpedance amplifier followed by a nonlinear gain stage to cover a wide signal range without changing the transimpedance gain. The circuit dynamically adjusts the receiver threshold voltage through a feedback loop, thus optimizing the pulsewidth distortion and canceling the optical as well as the electrical offset voltages.

A low noise transimpedance amplifier for cryogenically cooled quartz tuning fork force sensors

We have designed and built a low noise, broadband transimpedance amplifier that allows for sensing both the amplitude and phase of an oscillating quartz tuning fork for a cryogenic atomic force microscope. The circuit uses a global feedback scheme, where the input stage, located next to the quartz tuning fork at low temperature, is followed by an operational amplifier stage operated at room temperature. At 4.2 K, with a 1 MΩ metal film feedback resistor, the amplifier yields an output noise floor of 2×10−7 V/Hz and a bandwidth of 200 kHz. When it is used with a commercial 32 kHz quartz tuning fork, the calibrated sensitivity at 4.2 K is determined to be 30.8 μV/pm.

NOISE MEASUREMENT OF III-V COMPOUND DETECTORS FOR 2 μm LIDAR/DIAL REMOTE SENSING APPLICATIONS

Noise of a photodetector plays a vital role in determining the minimum detectable signal for lidar and DIAL receivers. A low noise trans-impedance amplifier circuit has been employed to examine the noise of III-V compound infrared detectors. These infrared detectors include InGaAs PIN diodes and newly developed InGaAsSb avalanche photodiodes (APDs) with separate absorption and multiplication (SAM) structure. The noise of these detectors are compared with well-established Si APDs. These measured noises are utilized to compute the figures-of-merit, such as noise-equivalent-power (NEP) and detectivity (D*) of these devices and are presented in this paper.

High-speed digital and analog performance of low-noise integrated MSM-HEMT photoreceivers

The digital and analog performance of high-speed, monolithically integrated, low-noise metal-semiconductor-metal MSM-HEMT photoreceivers is reported. The MSM photodetectors were vertically integrated with the HEMT's using a stacked layer structure, with the HEMT layers beneath the MSM layers. The photoreceivers were implemented using a HEMT-based low-noise three-stage transimpedance amplifier. The amplifier transimpedance was 803 /spl Omega/, and the photoreceivers exhibited -3 dB bandwidths up to 7.2 GHz. Analog noise performance was characterized, and average input-referred noise current spectral densities of 6.5 and 7.3 pA/Hz/sup 1/2 / were found for receivers with 1and 1.5-/spl mu/m MSM inter-electrode spacings, respectively. The digital performance of the photoreceivers was examined at bit rates up to 10 Gb/s, and open eye patterns obtained. The measured sensitivity for a bit-error rate of 10/sup -9/ was found to be -16.9 and -13.1 dBm at 5 and 8 Gb/s, respectively, for photoreceivers with a 1.5 /spl mu/m inter-electrode spacing, and -10.7 dBm at 10 Gb/s for photoreceivers with a 1-/spl mu/m inter-electrode spacing. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of multigigabit measured sensitivities of MSM-HEMT photoreceivers on InP substrates.

1 Gbit/s fibre channel CMOS transimpedance amplifier

A high-speed, low-noise transimpedance amplifier has been implemented in 0.8 /spl mu/m digital CMOS technology. Featuring a broadband input source-follower stage, the amplifier has an effective transimpedance gain of 66.5 dB/spl Omega/ (2110 /spl Omega/), consuming 155 mW. The measured input noise current density of the amplifier is 4.6 pA//spl radic/Hz. With equivalent input sensitivity of -24 dBm at 1 Gbit/s for 10/sup -12/ bit error rate (BER). To the authors knowledge, this is the first gigabit transimpedance amplifier ever demonstrated in standard CMOS technology.

Low-noise, high-transimpedance Si-bipolar AGC amplifier for 10 Gb/s optical-fiber links

A two chip low-noise transimpedance amplifier with automatic gain control (AGC) is presented. The amplifier has been developed for a 10-Gb/s optical-fiber system and fabricated in a Si-bipolar production technology. The maximum transimpedance is as high as 45 k/spl Omega/ and the electrical input dynamic range is 33 dB. >

A wideband low-noise variable-gain BiCMOS transimpedance amplifier

A new monolithic variable gain transimpedance amplifier is described. The circuit is realized in BiCMOS technology and has measured gain of 98 k/spl Omega/, bandwidth of 128 MHz, input noise current spectral density of 1.17 pA//spl radic/(Hz) and input signal-current handling capability of 3 mA.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

System integration of optical devices and analog CMOS amplifiers

Monolithic system integration of optical components, photodetectors, and analog transimpedance CMOS amplifiers is presented. An advanced SWAMI LOCOS technique, based on a submicron CMOS process is applied. Different optical devices including waveguides, beam splitters, interferometers and mirrors have been integrated using this technique. The optical system consists of a SiON layer deposited on 2-/spl mu/m oxide. The waveguides are made of structured SiO/sub 2/ layers on top of the SiON layer. Leaky wave or butt coupled photodiodes and phototransistors are used as light detectors. The photocurrents are amplified by low-noise CMOS transimpedance amplifiers with high sensitivity. They were designed for a large dynamic range of photocurrents together with short recovery times and low noise. Their reliability and yield were optimized with new CAD tools.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>

Three-element stressed Ge:Ga photoconductor array for the infrared telescope in space

A stressed Ge:Ga photoconductor array with three elements applied to the Infrared Telescope in Space satellite was fabricated and tested in experiments at 2.0 K in very low-photon-influx conditions (~ 10(5) photons/s). Stress was applied to three Ge:Ga detectors in a series by a stable and compact stressing apparatus by using cone-disk springs. The cutoff wavelength was ~ 180 microm. Responsivity was ~ 100 A/W, and the product of quantum efficiency and photoconductive gain, etaG, was ~ 1 with a chopping frequency of 2 Hz. The noise equivalent power was <5 x 10(-18) W/Hz((1/2)) when low-noise transimpedance amplifiers were used. A slow transient response and a nonlinear response that was dependent on the background photon influx were observed in the experiments. The latter showed that the etaG had a time constant tau(c) that was proportional to N(ph)(-(1/2)).

Stability and noise performance of constant transimpedance amplifier with inductive source

The design of a low-noise wideband transimpedance amplifier which matches an inductive source is considered. The presence of an inductive source makes it difficult to design such an amplifier to meet both low-noise and stability requirements. A novel feedback configuration is proposed. The use of this configuration gives good noise performance and at the same time realizes a constant transimpedance. The stability and signal transfer conditions for four different cases are derived. Noise analysis and optimization performed for each case yield amplifiers with optimal noise performance. Four amplifiers have been designed to verify the analytical results. The amplifier is suitable to be implemented in bipolar junction transistor technology and can be used as the preamplifier in an upconversion radio receiver. A transimpedance of 220 k Omega and total equivalent input noise current density between 0.35 to 0.75 pA/ square root Hz have been achieved in the whole AM band. A reduction of two in noise current has been measured when a JFET (junction field-effect-transistor) is used as input instead of a bipolar transistor. >

A wide-band low-noise monolithic transimpedance amplifier

A transimpedance amplifier with nominal 200-MHz bandwidth, 6.6-k/spl Omega/ gain, and 33-nA RMS-equivalent input noise current is described. The circuit is realized in silicon-bipolar-monolithic technology and functions with source capacitances ranging from zero to several picofarads.