SYSTEM INTEGRATION OF OPTICAL-DEVICES AND ANALOG CMOS AMPLIFIERS

Monolithic system integration of optical components, photodetectors, and analog transimpedance CMOS amplifiers is presented. An advanced SWAMI LOCOS technique, based on a submicron CMOS process is applied. Different optical devices including waveguides, beam splitters, interferometers and mirrors have been integrated using this technique. The optical system consists of a SiON layer deposited on 2-mum oxide. The waveguides are made of structured SiO2 layers on top of the SiON layer. Leaky wave or butt coupled photodiodes and phototransistors are used as light detectors. The photocurrents are amplified by low-noise CMOS transimpedance amplifiers with high sensitivity. They were designed for a large dynamic range of photocurrents together with short recovery times and low noise. Their reliability and yield were optimized with new CAD tools.