Customer Reviews

Design of Integrated Circuits for Optical Communications

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I would like to write about "Design of Integrated Circuits for Optical Communications" book
(2003 ed.,McGRAW-HILL), written by Behzad Razavi.

The information contained here should help anyone who feel interested to have some ideas about
how much the book is directly useful for his or her application or learning interest.
Also, this should be a guide for reading plan and learning to take a good advantage from the book.

General :
This book begins with two chapters that give a good brief overview of the Introduction
to Optical Communications and some Basic Concepts necessary for analysis and design.
The remaining chapters teach you to design important building blocks of the optical communications(OC)
system. Fig 1.3 in the book is a system topology that guides you to see a big picture of
the system or transceiver.
The author recommends that the reader should have a good understanding of analog design
before reding the book and also recommends some textbooks for starters; 1) Design of Analog
CMOS Integrated Circuits by B. Razavi, or 2) Analysis and Design of Analog Integrated Circuits
by P. Gray,P. Hurst et al.
If you read this book, you might observe that Chapters 6,7,8,9 that relate to oscillators and
PLLs are comprehensive and can give you more details of the topics more than other textbooks
in CMOS circuits design.The obvious reason is that he is also the author or editor of the books
related to PLLs and Clock recovery circuits. Thus these particular chapters are very interesting
in this book.

Author's Writing Style:
In each chapter, Razavi usually writes important equations that reasonably explain the
detailed analysis. Although he might not include every detailed step of analysis or calculation,
it should be enough for a student to follow the idea. Busy engineers can skip the details of
equation formulation and use the results or ideas for design decisions. Sentences are well written.
Sentences are mostly concise and clearly explain the concepts. In contrast, authors of some
engineering textbooks often use overly complex sentences which normally load the reader's brain
pretty much, especially after some long hours of studies or works. Usually busy engineers like
to read something relatively short or concise to only get a particular idea.

Thus, Razavi's book is suitable for both students and busy engineers who want to find a good
reference book in the field to get start or do some works.

Errata: only a few( five I found)

Contents:
There are 362 pages of contents(not include Index). It is relatively a small book(i.e. a size of 400 pages).
The book is divided into ten chapters,
- Chapter 1 Introduction to Optical Communications (6 pages, not count References page)
- Chapter 2 Basic Concepts (27 pages)
- Chapter 3 Optical Devices (25 pages)
- Chapter 4 Transimpedance Amplifiers (61 pages)
- Chapter 5 Limiting Amplifiers and Output Buffers (42 pages)
I also read "Microelectronic Circuit Design",3rd edition by Jaeger&Blalock,
I found an interesting mention of TAS-TIS cascade technique developed by Cherry and Hooper.The technique was used to design the limiting amplifier in optical fiber receivers.
I think, the author should add more detailed explanation about this technique to make this chapter better for this book of IC design for Optical Communications.
- Chapter 6 Oscillator Fundamentals (58 pages)
One distinc feature of the book that I like is a comprehensive chapter on topics of Oscillator Fundamentals. This will help much for readers who have little background, to develop understanding for studies of VCOs and PLLs.Begins with analysis of feedback systems and oscillation conditions.
- Chapter 7 LC Oscillators (30 pages)
- Chapter 8 Phase-Locked Loops (43 pages)
- Chapter 9 Clock and Data Recovery (44 pages)
- Chapter 10 Multiplexers and Laser Drivers (30 pages)
A short list of References is given at the end of each chapter.

Hope that the review is helpful.
----
Sittinart N.

If you appreciate Dr. Razavi's renowned book CMOS Analog IC Design, then this book won't disappoint you since it has the same quality: brevity and clarity of explanations of what matters, clear figures and good organization. Except for a part of the PLL chapter (ch. 8) which copies from his other books, most of the book is original text which summarizes knowledge which would take much more time to gain by simply reading papers or looking at other people's design at random. Highly recommended for anyone who loves Dr. Razavi's style in his CMOS Analog IC design book and who works in the wireline communication IC design industry.

One of those rare books that covers the theory and practical aspects quite well. And to top it all, it is very well written. The author doesn't write complicated sentences. I felt each sentence was succinct.

I wish he had created exercises just like the fundamentals book. Also a few examples in design would be useful to the reader - for instance, high speed muxes cannot be designed with traditional square law equations. How would Razavi advice students and engineers to go about it.

My background: I have 15yr experience doing analog IC design.

The author doesn't have readers in his mind. I just want to use OP-AMP and photodiode to make a receiver but I can't find any example. The book should give a big picture in the beginning. Plus, the price is ridiculous.