Abstract—Mach Zehnder Interferometric (MZI) modulator based optical communication systems are finding increased research interests. With the rapid scaling of technology, obtaining higher output swing required for driving the MZI modulator has become increasingly challenging. To address this issue, this paper demonstrates a driver amplifier for the MZI modulator with a 5 VPP differential swing in 65nm CMOS. Post layout simulation results show that for 5Gb/s data rate, the driver consumes 308mW from a 4 V power supply, which is significantly less power consumption compared to previously reported MZI modulator drivers. Simulation results also confirm the driver operation at 10Gb/s.
Index Terms—Driver amplifier, fiber optic communication, MZI, optical modulator.
The authors are with A*STAR, Institute of Microelectronics, Singapore, and CO 117685 Singapore (e-mail: kulkarnivv@ime.a-star.edu.sg).
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Cite: Vishal V. Kulkarni, M. Kumarasamy Raja, Yao Lei, Jason L. Tsung-Yang, and Minkyu Je, "A 5 VPP Differential Output Swing MZI Driver Amplifier in 65 nm CMOS for Optoelectronic Applications," International Journal of Information and Electronics Engineering vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 1-4, 2013.