A multi-channel current-mode cmos optical receiver array for active optical HDMI cables

This paper introduces a four-channel optical receiver array implemented in a standard 1P4M 0.18 µm CMOS technology for the applications of active optical HDMI cables. Each channel consists of a current-mirror transimpedance amplifier, a five-stage differential limiting amplifier, and an output buffer, demonstrating 81-dBΩ transimpedance gain, 1.8-GHz bandwidth even with 0.5-pF photodiode capacitance, –18.3-dBm optical sensitivity for 10⁻¹² BER & 0.6-A/W responsivity, and 51.7-mW power dissipation from a single 1.8-V supply. The whole chip occupies the area of 1.35 × 2.46 mm² including pads. The measured eye-diagrams of the array confirms wide and clear eye-openings up to 4.0-Gb/s operations.