A review of modern CMOS transimpedance amplifiers for OTDR applications

Abstract

The work presents a review of modern CMOS transimpedance amplifiers (TIAs) in the context of their application for low-cost optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR). After introducing the basic principles behind the OTDR, the requirements for a suitable CMOS TIA are presented and discussed. A concise review of several basic TIA topologies is provided with a brief overview of their main properties. A detailed discussion is given on a representative set of approaches reported in the literature and the figure of merit (FOM) is introduced as a unified basis for performance comparison. Limitations of a single FOM as a basis for comparison are pointed out. Based on the provided discussion, some suggestions are made on the suitability of the TIA topologies for OTDR applications.