A 122 TΩ Hz transimpedance bandwidth product BiCMOS optical sensor front-end with a 54.7 dB voltage-controlled photo-sensitivity range

An optical sensor front-end with integrated PIN photodiode in 0.6 μm BiCMOS technology intended for universal optical storage operation is presented. It is based on a mixed current conveyor and voltage amplifiers topology avoiding stability problems. The transimpedance is continuously variable and directly proportional to a voltage-controlled resistance. Another voltage-controlled resistor within a variable-gain voltage amplifier increases the photo-sensitivity range. A fixed-gain voltage amplifier and a current biasing of the current conveyor enable frequency bandwidth enhancement leading to a large transimpedance bandwidth product. A linearity error smaller than 2.8%, a photo-sensitivity range of 541 (54.7 dB) with the largest photo-sensitivity of 2468 mV/μW, an offset voltage <13.7 mV, a frequency bandwidth up to 277 MHz, a slew rate up to 377 V/μs, a transimpedance bandwidth product up to 122 TΩ Hz, and a maximum power consumption of <4.3 mW are achieved.

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