A PAM-4 Link for High Data Rate PMF Communication

In this work a high speed PAM-4 link for polymer microwave fiber (PMF) communication at D-band (110-170GHz) is presented using a commercial 130 nm SiGe BiCMOS process. Link measurements are performed over a one meter long foamcladded PMF which verifies that the link can support data rates up to 30 Gbps with a bit error rate (BER) of 3 ∗ 10−8. The transmitter is RF-DAC based including and LO multiplier and a six stage amplifier. The receiver consist of an LNA and a power detector (PD). The DC power consumption is 143 mW for the transmitter and 126 mW for the receiver.