LTC6561
15
Rev. C
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APPLICATIONS INFORMATION
Coupling the APD to the TIA is critical, direct DC coupling
or AC coupling, using a small AC coupling capacitor from
10pF to 100pF is recommended.
Channel Selection
There are four TIA inputs to the LTC6561. The active
channel is selected using the two channel selection bits
CHSEL0 and CHSEL1. When a channel is selected, its DC
input voltage is approximately 1.5V; when deselected its
input voltage drops to 0.9V. A reselected channel will not
be active until its AC-coupling cap is recharged to 1.5V,
leading to slow switching times. With a large AC-coupling
cap, switching time can stretch into the µS range. When
DC- coupled, the LTC6561 will switch channels in less
than 50nS. Inactive channels have more than 45dB of
isolation to the active channel to prevent cross-talk. It is
critical to route adjacent channel input lines with ground
isolation between them to minimize channel to channel
coupling.
Output MUXing
The Output MUX (O_MUX) requires at least one additional
LTC6561 devices to operate in a master/slave relation-
ship. To MUX multiple LTC6561’s they need to share a
DC connection at their outputs. One LTC6561 output must
be selected at all times by asserting its O_MUX pin low.
To disable the rest of the outputs, drive the other O_MUX
pins high. The chosen LTC6561 effectively commands the
others. It is recommended to DC couple the outputs after
the series 40-50Ω resistor as this will limit reflection from
unselected outputs. At least one LTC6561 output must be
selected at all times.
In its default mode O_MUX is low, so the LTC6561 out-
put is enabled. Obviously, if there is only one LTC6561,
then setting the O_MUX pin high will not MUX anything,
however the output will be isolated from all the inputs.
Input Capacitance
As with most TIAs, bandwidth and rise time of the output
pulse are a strong function of the input capacitance. To
receive narrow pulses, a low capacitance APD sensor is
recommended. As well, trace capacitance and parasitic
pad capacitance should be minimized at the input. All
LTC6561 plots reference CIN,TOT which is the total input
capacitance including APD sensor, trace routing and para-
sitics. The LTC6561’s MUX capability allows short input
coupling to individual APDs and a more compact solution
size for APD arrays.
Internal protection circuitry at each TIA input can protect
the LTC6561 even under strong overdrive conditions.
Most application circuits will not need external protec-
tion diodes which add to the total input capacitance and
slow the rise time. Output rise time can be estimated from
the amplifier bandwidth using the following relationship:
RISETIME =0.35
APD Biasing
Proper APD biasing is key to producing a high fidelity
output and protecting both the APD and TIA. As suggested
earlier a negatively biased APD provides the lowest input
capacitance and allows the APD to be DC coupled to the
TIA. To keep the optical gain stable the APD bias should be
temperature compensated. Quenching resistors in series
are required to limit the maximum current, thereby pro-
tecting the APD and TIA from damage. An example of a
typical APD bias network is shown in Figure9. Starting at
the Negative bias input, two physically large 10kW resis-
tors can dissipate the maximum pulse power. They are
decoupled with a 1nF capacitor. Moving towards the APD,
a second smaller quenching resistor 50Ω is decoupled by
two 0.047µF capacitors. This smaller quenching resistor
acts to dampen ringing especially under high slew rates
due to large optical inputs pulses. All capacitors must
be rated for high voltage as APD bias voltages can run
above 200V.
Dramatically Improving the LTC6561’s Dynamic
Range
While the LTC6561’s 30µA of linear input range is quite
respectable, it is possible to dramatically improve the
range over which input current can be accurately mea-
sured. The measurement range can be increased from
30µA to at least 3mA, a 100x improvement in current
measurement range! As the input current exceeds the
linear range, the output pulse amplitude saturates. Once