PAGE 14 • JUNE 2012
FEATURE ARTICLE
WWW.MPDIGEST.COM
Powerful Optical Modulator Driver Family for Metro and Long
Haul 40G/100G Applications
by Hittite Microwave
D
uring the past sev-
eral years, Hittite
Microwave has intro-
duced a broad family of wide-
band optical modulator driver
amplifiers to serve the explod-
ing fiber optic data transmis-
sion market. As the demand
for bandwidth increases from
service providers, data centers,
and enterprise networks, these
power efficient, small form fac-
tor, and cost effective optical
solutions will be required for
use in metro, regional and long
haul applications. Fiber optic
modulator driver solutions
from Hittite uniquely combine
the attributes of compact size
and reduced power dissipa-
tion, while addressing custom-
er needs for advanced features
and a selection of packaging
formats. With products avail-
able in bare die and in sur-
face mount technology (SMT)
compatible formats, modulator
driver solutions from Hittite
are enabling some of the high-
est density and lowest cost
fiber optic modules of today.
See
Table 1
for a performance
summary table of Hittite’s lat-
est modulator driver products.
For Very Short Reach (VSR)
and Gigabit Ethernet (GbE)
applications, the HMC871LC5
operates from DC to 20 GHz
and is optimized for driving
electroabsorption (EA) optical
modulators. The HMC871LC5
operates with supply rails from
+5V to +8V, while delivering
15 dB of gain and low addi-
tive jitter of 300 fs RMS for 10
Figure 1: Hittite’s Optical Modulator Driver Family
Gbps operation. Gain flatness
is excellent at 0.5 dB, while
the saturated output swing is
4 Vp-p, and the output swing
cross point is adjustable. The
HMC871LC5 provides VSR
and Gigabit Ethernet designers
with scalable power dissipa-
tion for varying output drive
requirements. For example,
the HMC871LC5 consumes
less than 0.25W with 2.5 Vp-p
output swing and less than
0.6W with 4 Vp-p output. The
HMC871LC5 is also ideal for
SONET OC-192 and SDH-
STM-64 transmission systems.
For longer haul, higher
output swing applications,
the HMC870LC5 operates
from DC to 20 GHz, and is
designed specifically for driv-
ing Lithium Niobate (LiNOb3)
Mach-Zehnder (MZ) optical
modulators. The HMC870LC5
operates with supply rails from
+3.3V to +7V, while delivering
18 dB of gain and low additive
jitter of 300 fs RMS under 10
Gbps operation. Gain flatness
is excellent at 0.5 dB, while
the saturated output swing is
8 Vp-p, and the output swing
cross point is adjustable. The
adjustable output swing of the
HMC870LC5 provides metro
and long haul designers with
a scalable power dissipation
solution. The HMC871LC5
consumes less than 0.4W with
3.6 Vp-p output swing, and less
than 1W with 8.5 Vp-p output.
The HMC870LC5 is also ideal
for 10 Gbps non-return-to-zero
(NRZ) and 40 Gbps differen-
tial quadrature phase shift key-
ing (DQPSK) applications.
The HMC870LC5 and
HMC871LC5 exhibit group
delay flatness within ±15 ps
from 1 GHz to 12 GHz sig-
nal frequency, feature edge
rates of 20 ps, and exhibit
excellent output slew capabil-
ity over the full -40 °C to +85
°C temperature range. These
GaAs pHEMT MMIC modu-
lator drivers incorporate RF I/
Os that are internally matched
to 50 Ohms, require a minimal
number of external compo-
nents and are housed in con-
venient leadless, ceramic 5 x
5 mm SMT packages. These
SMT packaged optical modula-
tor drivers support operation to
20 Gbps and also function well
in broadband test & measure-
ment applications. The output
eye diagram shown in
Figure 2
demonstrates the performance
of the HMC870LC5 with a
supply rail equal to 3.3V, and
an input waveform of 11.25
Gbps at 0.5 Vp-p.
For module applications
which require high perfor-
mance modulator drivers in
bare die form, Hittite offers
the HMC1050 and HMC1051
GaAs pHEMT MMIC distrib-
uted amplifiers which are rated
for operation to 30 GHz. The
HMC1050 modulator driver/
wideband amplifier provides
14 dB of gain, and +14 dBm
of output power at 1 dB gain
compression. When stimulated
with 32Gbps 2³¹-1 PRBS NRZ
data, an output voltage swing
of 2.8 Vp-p is obtained from
a 500 mVp-p input signal. The
HMC1050 is suitable for a vari-
ety of wideband electronic war-
fare systems and test & mea-
surement applications includ-
ing NRZ applications up to 32
Gbps, and may also be used as
a pre-driver or a receive chain
gain block.
Hittite, Con’t on pg 64
Table 1: Performance summary table for Hittite’s Optical modulator Driver Family
PAGE 64 • JUNE 2012
Hittite, Con’t from pg 14
The HMC1051 modulator
driver/wideband amplifier pro-
vides 16 dB of gain, and +20
dBm of output power at 1 dB
gain compression. When stimu-
lated with 32 Gbps 2
31
-1 PRBS
NRZ data, an output voltage
swing of 8.0 Vp-p is achieved
with a 1.25 Vp-p input sig-
nal. The HMC1051 is suitable
for a variety of wideband elec-
tronic warfare systems and test
& measurement applications
including NRZ transmission
rates to 32 Gbps.
Both the HMC1050 and
the HMC1051 operate from
a range of supply rail values
from +5V to +7V, while their
integrated peak-detect function
(PDF) allows output power
stability for calibration and
field monitoring. These com-
pact MMIC die incorporate
RF input / output ports which
are internally matched to 50
Ohms for simplified integra-
tion into multi-chip-modules
(MCMs). Both the HMC1050
and HMC1051 are intended
for driving a Mach-Zehnder
optical modulator with electri-
cal NRZ data.
In order to address the most
demanding fiber optic and net-
working applications, Hittite
has released the industry’s low-
est power and smallest form
factor SMT packaged optical
modulator driver solution. The
HMC5850BG operates from
DC to 30 GHz, and was devel-
oped specifically for 40 Gbps
and 100 Gbps Mach-Zehnder
optical modulator driver appli-
cations. The HMC5850BG
40/100G optical modulator
driver is a highly integrated
and highly efficient modulator
driver solution. Next genera-
tion 100G optical dense wave-
length division multiplexing
(DWDM) networks will benefit
from the HMC5850BG which
consumes 35% less power and
is 40% smaller than competing
solutions; furthermore, these
benefits are realized with no
compromise in system perfor-
mance.
The HMC5850BG is a multi-
chip module solution which
delivers greater than 20 dB of
gain across a wide frequency
FEATURE ARTICLE
WWW.MPDIGEST.COM
and an input waveform of 0.5
Vp-p amplitude and a data rate
of 21.5 Gbps.
The HMC5850BG modu-
lator driver can be operated
with data rates as high 32
Gbps, and exhibits very low
additive rms jitter of 230 fs.
The HMC5850BG also fea-
tures output swing and eye
crossing adjustments, both of
which can be further simplified
by using Hittite’s DC power
management products such as
the HMC981LP3E Active Bias
Controller. The HMC5850BG
has demonstrated successful
interoperation at 32 Gbps with
a high performance multiplexer
(MUX) from a leading supplier.
The
highly
integrated
HMC5850BG is a user-friendly
solution which incorporates an
internal bias tee, requires very
few external components, and
features RF input/output ports
that are internally matched to
50 Ohms. This advanced modu-
lator driver is rated for opera-
tion from -40 °C to +85 °C,
and is packaged in a 9.75 mm
x 6 mm x 3.29 mm laminate
substrate based, ball grid array
(BGA) surface-mount package.
Module designers and equip-
ment manufacturers who are
involved in the development
of fiber optic and network-
ing equipment will welcome
the performance and power
flexibility offered by Hittite’s
modulator driver solutions.
Having the ability to tailor the
output swing and the power
consumption for each applica-
tion, fiber hardware designers
will find multiple applications
for a single device, thereby
reducing cost and simplifying
component count. Samples and
evaluation PC boards for all
SMT packaged products are
available from stock and can
be ordered via the company’s
e-commerce site or via direct
purchase order. Released data
sheets are available on-line at
www.hittite.com. For more
information, please contact
FO@hittite.com.
Figure 2: Output Eye Diagram for HMC870LC5 MZ
Optical Modulator Driver at 11.25 Gbps
Figure 3: Output Eye Diagram for HMC5850BG 40/100G
MZ Optical Modulator Driver at 21.5 Gbps
range, enabling it to replace two
separate gain stages in a 100G
DWDM transmit path appli-
cation. The integrated peak-
detect function (PDF) allows
the customer to calibrate the
output level of the modulator
driver and to remotely mon-
itor the status of the trans-
mit chain while operating in
the field. With a wide supply
operating range from +5V to
+7V, the HMC5850BG is an
environmentally friendly solu-
tion which provides long haul
system designers with scalable
power dissipation options for
varying output drive require-
ments. The HMC5850BG will
consume as little as 0.9W of
power with a 7 Vp-p output
swing, or it can be driven to
provide 8 Vp-p output swing
while consuming only 1.3W. In
order to assure robust operation
throughout the manufactur-
ing process, the HMC5850BG
incorporates on-board ESD
protection. The output eye dia-
gram shown in
Figure 3
demon-
strates the performance of the
HMC5850BG with Vdd = +6V,
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