Low-power optoelectronic IC

A very low-power optoelectronic integrated circuit (OEIC) for highly parallel optical receivers is introduced. It is necessary to minimize the power consumption of each optical receiver to enable an array of receivers. An integrated photodiode with low input capacitance takes care of the detection of visible and near infrared light. Rise- and fall times of t/sub r/=470 ps and t/sub f/=421 ps, with an overall (optical and electrical) power consumption of 1.77 mW at a data rate of 500 Mb/s down to a power consumption of 0.66 mW at 40 Mb/s, were achieved. Due to the pin photodiode, a standard 0.6 /spl mu/m BiCMOS process is used, which needs only one minor process modification for the integration of the pin photodiode.