Maxim Integrated Products introduced the MAX3866 3.3V, 2.488Gbps, SDH/SONET combined transimpedance amplifier and limiting amplifier. The MAX3866 eliminates one IC by combining on one piece of silicon the functionality of a transimpedance amplifier with that of a limiting amplifier. The MAX3866 uses only 165mW of power with a +3.3V supply -- less than half the power of discrete solutions. The device achieves input sensitivity of better than -22dBm. It also achieves a 10E-10 bit error rate as long as the input sensitivity is less than or equal to -22dBm.

Although the news release does not say so this part must be manufactured in Maxim's SiGe process to achieve the noise numbers that are specified. Without getting into the complete vertical manufacturing process (with a photo-sensitive diode or other device) this MAX3866 is as about a complete solution as those fiber "front-end" assembly houses could wish for. The advantage of the GaAs process in this area is that the manufacturer can also integrate the detector avoiding any possible error by the integrator; to beat that advantage the non-GaAs house must thoroughly beat the parts in the numbers area. This part is impressive in its sensitivity at one end of the spectrum as well as its overload capability at the other end. Typical noise is 40 dB below the sensitivity threshold while the power-supply rejection ratio (<2 MHz) is reasonable at 30 dB.