Fully integrated receiver for free-space visible light communication

Abstract

A fully integrated visible light communication (VLC) receiver is presented in this paper. The proposed VLC receiver chip is designed for free-space communication. Utilizing a laser diode as light source, the measured −3 dB bandwidth of receiver is 420 MHz over 0.5 m distance without lens. The integrated receiver is manufactured in an UMC 0.18 µm CMOS process, and the chip area is 889 × 570 µm². This receiver chip can be used in VLC systems with the following advantages: suitable for VLC free-space channel, low requirements for focusing and alignment, low cost, low power-consumption, compatible with standard CMOS technology, and high integration-density.