
M
An external resistor at the MODBCOMP pin sets current
proportional to I
BIAS
. Open circuiting the MODBCOMP
pin can turn off the interaction between I
BIAS
and I
MOD
:
If I
MOD
must be increased from I
MOD1
to I
MOD2
to
maintain the extinction ratio at elevated temperature,
the required compensation factor is:
A threshold for additional temperature compensation
can be set with a programming resistor at the
TH_TEMP pin:
The temperature coefficient of thermal compensation
above T
TH
is set by R
MODTCOMP
. Leaving the MODT-
COMP pin open disables additional thermal compensation:
Current Compliance (I
MOD
≤
60mA),
DC-Coupled
The minimum voltage at the OUT+ and OUT- pins is
0.7V.
For:
V
DIODE
—
Diode bias point voltage (1.2V typ)
R
L
—
Diode bias point resistance (5
typ)
R
D
—
Series matching resistor (20
typ)
For compliance:
Current Compliance (I
MOD
> 60mA),
AC-Coupled
For applications requiring modulation current greater
than 60mA, headroom is insufficient for proper opera-
tion of the laser driver if the laser is DC-coupled. To
avoid this problem, the MAX3737
’
s modulation output
can be AC-coupled to the cathode of a laser diode. An
external pullup inductor is necessary to DC-bias the
modulation output at V
CC
. Such a configuration isolates
laser forward voltage from the output circuitry and
allows the output at OUT+ to swing above and below
the supply voltage (V
CC
). When AC-coupled, the
MAX3737 modulation current can be programmed up
to 85mA. Refer to Maxim Application Note HFAN 02.0:
Interfacing Maxim’s Laser Drivers to Laser Diodes
for
more information on AC-coupling laser drivers to laser
diodes.
For compliance:
Determine C
APC
The APC loop filter capacitor C
APC
must be selected to
balance the requirements for fast turn-on and minimal
interaction with low frequencies in the data pattern. The
low-frequency cutoff is:
High-frequency noise can be filtered with an additional
cap C
MD
from the MD pin to ground:
The MAX3737 is designed so that turn-on time is faster
than 1ms for most laser gain values (
η
ρ
MON
).
Choosing a smaller value of C
APC
reduces turn-on
time. Careful balance between turn-on time and low-fre-
quency cutoff may be needed at low data rates for
some values of laser gain.
Interface Models
Figures 6 and 7 show simplified input and output cir-
cuits for the MAX3737 laser driver. If dice are used,
replace package parasitic elements with bondwire par-
asitic elements.
C
C
MD
APC
4
≈
C
F
f
kHz
(
APC
DB
3
MON
ρ
(
)
) (
)
.
μ
η
≈
×
×
68
1 1
V
V
I
R
(
R
V
OUT
C
MOD
2
D
L
+
=
×
+
)
≥
C
-
0 75
V
V
V
I
R
(
R
I
R
V
OUT
CC
DIODE
MOD
D
L
BIAS
L
+
=
×
+
)
×
≥
-
-
-
.7
TC
R
k
mA
C
°
MODTCOMP
=
+
±
1
0 5
.
10
(
)
%
T
C
M
R
k
C
TH
TH_
=
°
+
+
° ±
.
%
-70
1.
9 2
10
K
I
I
I
I
MOD
BIAS
MOD
BIAS
=
2
2
1
1
-
-
K
R
MODBCOMP
=
+
±
1700
1000
10%
I
I
TC
0
T T
-
T
T
T
T
MODT
TH
TH
MODT
TH
=
=
×
(
|
)
>
≤
|
I
V
R
MODS
REF
MODSET
=
268
I
I
K
I
I
MOD
MODS
BIAS
MODT
=
+
×
+
Multirate Laser Driver with Extinction
Ratio Control
12
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