A laser source driver in 0.18 μm SiGe BiCMOS technology for high speed quantum key distribution

Quantum key distribution (QKD) has rapidly developed recently. The repetition frequency of the QKD system increases from tens or hundreds of MHz to GHz. A laser diode (LD) operating in gain-switched mode is widely used as a weak coherent light source in a QKD system. We present an LD driver circuit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAIP advances Vol. 12; no. 12; pp. 125025 - 125025-10
Main Authors Zhu, Yulong, Wang, Xinzhe, Zhu, Chenxi, Chen, Zhaoyuan, Huang, Zhisheng, Jin, Zhanhong, Li, Yang, Liang, Futian, Liao, Shengkai, Peng, Chengzhi, Jin, Ge
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Melville American Institute of Physics 01.12.2022
AIP Publishing LLC
Subjects
Circuits
CMOS
Coherent light
Driver circuits
Heterojunction bipolar transistors
Light sources
Quantum cryptography
Semiconductor devices
Semiconductor lasers
Silicon germanides
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Summary:Quantum key distribution (QKD) has rapidly developed recently. The repetition frequency of the QKD system increases from tens or hundreds of MHz to GHz. A laser diode (LD) operating in gain-switched mode is widely used as a weak coherent light source in a QKD system. We present an LD driver circuit fabricated in 0.18 μm SiGe heterojunction bipolar transistor bipolar complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology. The circuit can operate at frequencies up to 2.5 GHz, satisfying the requirements of high-speed laser drives in practical QKD systems. The output current of the driver circuit can reach 100 mA when driving an LD whose input equivalent resistance is ∼21 Ω. The extinction ratio of the 1550-nm distributed feedback LD light source driven by our driver circuit reaches 23 dB at the operating frequency of 2.5 GHz, meeting the requirements of QKD systems. This circuit will be used in miniaturized QKD systems.
ISSN:2158-3226
2158-3226
DOI:10.1063/5.0118778