title: 30-Gb/s 90-nm CMOS-driven equalized multimode optical link.
abstract: We report an 850-nm vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL)-based optical link that achieves a new record in speed. The laser driver and receiver ICs are fabricated in standard 90-nm bulk CMOS, and the optoelectronic devices are commercial components. Operation at 30 Gb/s with a bit-error rate < 10(-12) is achieved, representing to the authors' knowledge the highest speed reported to date for a CMOS-based full optical link. Transmitter feed-forward equalization is shown to improve maximum data rate from 25 to 30 Gb/s, timing margin by 17% at 23.5 Gb/s, and receiver sensitivity by 4 dB at 23.5 Gb/s.
authors.affiliation: IBM TJ Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598, USA.
authors.forename: Brendan H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Hamel-Bissell
authors.forename: Jonathan E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Proesel
authors.forename: Benjamin G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Daniel M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Kuchta
authors.forename: Alexander V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Rylyakov
authors.forename: Clint L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Schow
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007834:Lasers; D013685:Telecommunications / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014173:Transistors, Electronic