MAX4107 is stable only when G>+10. Because of this fact, the 25MHz PD has a too-high transimpedance for our purpose. To lower the gain without losing the stability of the amp, I have implemented a compensation network.
Attachment 1 shows the compensation network. This 10Ohm+100pF pair effectively makes the high freq noise gain higher (~10) while the low freq gain is G=4.5.
The actual implementation is found in Attachments 2 and 3. The overall schematic can be found in Attachment 5.
I also chose the resistor values so that their noise contributions are reduced.
The resulting output spectrum is compared with the one before the modification (Attachment 4).
Even with the lower gain, the gain peaking of the amplifier output is reduced.
LISO model (not shown here) indicates the input referred noise is ~1nV/rtHz. Considering the voltage division by the 50Ohm termination, the output voltage is as low as 2.25nV/rtHz. This is not a high number. Thus, we practically need a mid power / low noise amplifier attached to the output of the unit.
The total performance of the PD unit will be tested again shortly. |