US 12,470,213 B2
High speed high swing driver for direct drive photonic modulators
Faisal Ahmed Musa, Stittsville (CA); Ahmed Mustafa, Kanata (CA); Naim Ben Hamida, Ottawa (CA); and Bruce Beggs, Ottawa (CA)
Assigned to CIENA CORPORATION, Hanover, MD (US)
Filed by CIENA CORPORATION, Hanover, MD (US)
Filed on Feb. 6, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/434,092.
Prior Publication US 2025/0253845 A1, Aug. 7, 2025
Int. Cl. H03K 17/08 (2006.01); G02F 1/01 (2006.01); H03K 17/687 (2006.01)
CPC H03K 17/6872 (2013.01) [G02F 1/0121 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A device comprising:
a first differential pair of transistors having drain nodes coupled to a differential pair of combiner nodes, having source nodes coupled in common to a first tail current source, and having gate nodes coupled to output nodes of a pre-driver stage;
a first pair of cascode transistors having drain nodes, gate nodes coupled in common to a first cascode bias node, and source nodes coupled to the differential pair of combiner nodes, the first pair of cascode transistors having a first breakdown voltage;
a second pair of cascode transistors having drain nodes, source nodes coupled to the drain nodes of the first pair of cascode transistors, and gate nodes coupled in common to a second cascode bias node, the second pair of cascode transistors having a second breakdown voltage, wherein the second breakdown voltage is higher than the first breakdown voltage; and
an output network coupled to the drain nodes of the second pair of cascode transistors.