Optical Wireless APD Receiver With High Background-Light Immunity for Increased Communication Distances

The design and measurement of a monolithically integrated optoelectronic chip consisting of two different receivers are presented. A high-speed receiver for communication including a highly sensitive, large-area avalanche photodiode builds one receiver. A data rate of 1 Gbit/s with a BER −9 is received with a sensitivity of −31.8 dBm. The second receiver consists of two pn-photodiodes connected to a highly sensitive differential transimpedance amplifier with a nonlinear feedback. This circuit is capable of detecting light power differences down to −90 dBm and is implemented two times. Its purpose is the detection of the light spot’s position on the receiver. The complete chip is fabricated in a standard high-voltage $0.35~\mu \text{m}$ CMOS technology. The performance in a wireless communication scenario with strong background irradiance is explored, and a comparison with published optoelectronic integrated receivers is given.