Transimpedance amplifier circuit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9853618-B2
Application number	US-201415030375-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 26, 2014
Priority date	Oct 25, 2013
Publication date	Dec 26, 2017
Grant date	Dec 26, 2017

Abstract

A transimpedance amplifier circuit ( 1 ) includes an amplifier ( 22 ) that amplifies a received signal, an automatic gain control (AGC) circuit ( 2 ) that controls the amplification gain of the amplifier by a first time constant in accordance with the level of the received signal, and a first selection circuit ( 25 ) that selects the first time constant from a plurality of predetermined values. This can simultaneously implement a short time constant of an AGC function necessary to instantaneously respond to a burst signal and a long time constant of the AGC function necessary to obtain a satisfactory bit error rate (BER) characteristic in a continuous signal by an inexpensive and compact circuit arrangement.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A transimpedance amplifier circuit comprising:
an amplifier that amplifies a received signal;
an automatic gain control circuit that controls an amplification gain of the amplifier by a first time constant in accordance with a level of the received signal; and
a first selection circuit that selects the first time constant from a plurality of predetermined values,
wherein the first selection circuit includes:
a plurality of resistive elements or a plurality of capacitive elements included in the automatic gain control circuit; and
a first switch element connected in series or parallel with at least some of the plurality of resistive elements or the plurality of capacitive elements and turned on or off based on the control signal to change one of the resistance value of the resistive element and the capacitance value of the capacitive element which decide the value of the first time constant.

2. The transimpedance amplifier circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the first switch element comprises a MOS transistor, and
the control signal is applied to a gate terminal of the MOS transistor.

3. The transimpedance amplifier circuit according to claim 1 , wherein the control signal of the first switch element is a logic signal of at least 2 bits, and
the first switch element switches the first time constant between a plurality of predetermined discrete values in accordance with a value of the logic signal.

4. A transimpedance amplifier circuit comprising:
an amplifier that amplifies a received signal;
an automatic gain control circuit that controls an amplification gain of the amplifier by a first time constant in accordance with a level of the received signal; and
a first selection circuit that selects the first time constant from a plurality of predetermined values, further comprising:
a received signal detection circuit that detects the received signal and outputs a first control signal when a continuous reception time of the received signal exceeds a predetermined time,
wherein the first selection circuit selects, based on the first control signal, a longer time constant for the first time constant from at least two predetermined-values.

5. The transimpedance amplifier circuit according to claim 4 , wherein the received signal detection circuit outputs a second control signal upon detecting a loss of the received signal, and
the first selection circuit selects, based on the second control signal, a shorter time constant for the first time constant from at least two predetermined-values.

6. A transimpedance amplifier circuit comprising:
an amplifier that amplifies a received signal;
an automatic gain control circuit that controls an amplification gain of the amplifier by a first time constant in accordance with a level of the received signal; and
a first selection circuit that selects the first time constant from a plurality of predetermined values, further comprising:
an automatic offset control circuit that outputs a differential signal based on an output of the amplifier and controls an offset amount of the differential signal by a second time constant; and
a second selection circuit that selects the second time constant from a plurality of predetermined values.

7. The transimpedance amplifier circuit according to claim 6 , wherein the second selection circuit changes, based on a control signal, at least one of a resistance value of a resistive element and a capacitance value of a capacitive element which decide a value of the second time constant.

8. The transimpedance amplifier circuit according to claim 6 , wherein the second selection circuit includes:
a plurality of resistive elements or a plurality of capacitive elements included in the automatic offset control circuit; and
a second switch element connected in series or parallel with at least some of the plurality of resistive elements or the plurality of capacitive elements and turned on or off based on the control signal to change one of the resistance value of the resistive element and the capacitance value of the capacitive element which decide the value of the second time constant.

9. The transimpedance amplifier circuit according to claim 8 , wherein the second switch element comprises a MOS transistor, and
the control signal is applied to a gate terminal of the MOS transistor.

10. The transimpedance amplifier circuit according to claim 8 , wherein the control signal of the second switch element is a logic signal of at least 2 bits, and
the second switch element switches the second time constant between a plurality of predetermined discrete values in accordance with a value of the logic signal.

11. The transimpedance amplifier circuit according to claim 6 , further comprising a received signal detection circuit that detects the received signal and outputs a first control signal when a continuous reception time of the received signal exceeds a predetermined time,
wherein the second selection circuit selects, based on the first control signal, a longer time constant for the second time constant from at least two predetermined-values.

12. The transimpedance amplifier circuit according to claim 11 , wherein the received signal detection circuit outputs a second control signal upon detecting a loss of the received signal, and
the second selection circuit selects, based on the second control signal, a shorter time constant for the second time constant from at least two predetermined-values.

Assignees

• Nippon Telegraph & Telephone
• Ntt Electronics Corp

Inventors

• Koizumi Hiroshi
• Nogawa Masafumi
• Tobayashi Masatoshi
• Endo Masahiro

Classifications

• H03G3/3084 Primary

  in receivers or transmitters for electromagnetic waves other than radiowaves, e.g. lightwaves (H03G3/32, H03G3/34 take precedence) · CPC title

• H03F2200/408

  the output amplifying stage of an amplifier comprising three power stages · CPC title

• H03G3/3052

  in bandpass amplifiers (H.F. or I.F.) or in frequency-changers used in a (super)heterodyne receiver (H03G3/32, H03G3/34 take precedence) · CPC title

• H03F3/45179

  using MOSFET transistors as the active amplifying circuit (H03F3/45278 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H03F2203/45288

  Differential amplifier with circuit arrangements to enhance the transconductance · CPC title