Monolithic high gain DC to 10 GHz direct coupled feedback transimpedance amplifier unsing AlGaAs / GaAs HBTs

A fixed 15.5 dB gain, DC to 10 GHz transimpedance amplifier using AlGaAs / GaAs heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) technology is described. A 2 mu m emitter non self-aligned HBT IC process (Ft = ca. 40 GHz, Fmax = ca. 40 GHz) with MOCVD grown layers is used to fabricate the amplifier. The 1 dB power compression is measured to be at 4 dBm ouput power. The third-order intercept point (IP3) is 19 dBm at DC power of 156 mW. The compact chip size of 0.45 x 0.6mm2 and the excellent 15 Gb/s NRZ pulse response make the amplifier a good candidate for 15 Gb/s optical transmission systems.