Discovery Semiconductors Inc. has introduced four-element quad indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) photodiode arrays for 40- and 100-gigabit-per-second optical communications.

The Quad PD Arrays consist of four photodiodes monolithically integrated on a common indium phosphide (InP) substrate, and are fabricated using a low FIT rate InGaAs/InP semiconductor process. The Quad PD Array consists of either 10-, 30-, 40-, or 50-micron diameter photodiodes. The individual RF bandwidth of the photodiodes is 10, 15, 20, or 40 GHz. The top illuminated photodiodes work for 1.3-micron as well as 1.5-micron based communication systems. The optical power handling of each photodiode exceeds +12dBm for coherent systems requiring high optical LO power. The target applications include 100-gigabit-per-second long-haul pol-mux (D)QPSK, 40-gigabit-per-second long-haul (D)QPSK, and 40G/100G parallel networking. The Quad PD Array can be configured as a 4-channel receiver or as a 4-channel balanced receiver using two arrays. The Quad PD Array is available as a module with single-mode fiber pigtails with GPPO or coplanar waveguide RF outputs, and is available with or without integrated transimpedance amplifiers.