Design and implementation of low cost multi-gigabit OEIC receivers for the serial and parallel optical data links

n the last ten years, we have witnessed the emergence of optoelectronic technology which has revolutionized the communications industry. Unfortunately, this technology is expensive and is thus only affordable to major telecommunication carriers, i.e., phone companies. To further expand the applications of optoelectronic technology from "long-haul" communication to short-distance optical interconnects, the development of cost-effective devices for high-performance computing and communication applications is urgently needed.;OptoElectronic Integrated Circuits (OEICs) composed of photodetectors and lasers integrated on the same substrate with transistors promise several advantages over their hybrid counterparts; among these are enhanced performance and low-cost. To address the problems or barriers which integration technology faces, the gallium-arsenide MESFET (Metal-Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor) and MSM (Metal-Semiconductor-Metal) technology provides a reasonable way for achieving this end. MESFET technology has been a workhorse in the MMIC industry for several years due to its manufacturability, reliability and performance. Furthermore, GaAs MSM photodetectors typically exhibit responsivities of 0.2 A/W which provide sufficient sensitivity for most short-distance data link applications. The MSM photodetector structure, which consists of a set of interdigitated metal fingers, is notably compatible with the MESFET gate metal making monolithic integration possible.;Although the minimum optical fiber loss and dispersion is at 1.55...