Abstract

Optical energy is limited in any optical interconnect system. Therefore we require an amplifier to decrease the optical energy for data communication. Electrical power consumed by this amplifier reduces the optical power required. An optical receiver for parallel interconnected systems (e.g., optical interconnected VLSI chips) must be moderately sensitive (-30 dBm to -20 dBm), low- electrical power (< 7 dBm), and high-speed (bit rate, B, in the hundreds of Mb/s). It also needs to be low-noise. A small dynamic range (<3 dB) can usually be tolerated since the optical power level can be set to this accuracy. The challenge in VLSI optical receiver design is to meet the above requirements simultaneously [1].

© 1997 Optical Society of America