TY - PAT
T1 - Monolithically Integrated Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers, Field Effect Transistors, and GaAs Photodetectors
AU - Zhang, Yong-Hang
PY - 1900/1/1
Y1 - 1900/1/1
N2 - Critical to the success of optoelectronic communication systems is the rapid and errorless transmission of data. Current systems using discrete devices and hybrid integrated circuits tend to perform poorly, exhibiting undesirable characteristics such as; low operational speed (<1GHz), limited functionality, poor reliability, and restricted scalability. Improvements in such communication systems can be achieved by using optoelectronic integrated circuits (OEICs). Through the use of costly and often complicated manufacturing methods such as multistep epitaxial layer growth, OEICs can be fabricated so as to combine components such as photodiodes and amplifiers onto a single microchip. Such integration generally provides rapid data transmission with minimal error. High-speed transmission however, requires that the components comprising OEICs be electrically isolated from their associated underlying conducting layers. Presently, such isolation is achieved by forming dielectric mirrors and by selectively oxidizing layers of Al(Ga)As into AlOx. These necessary manufacturing steps further complicate OEIC fabrication and tend to lower yield. To overcome these limitations, Arizona State University researchers have developed a novel single-step epitaxial growth method for monolithically integrating components such as field effect transistors (FETs), vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSELs), and resonant-cavity photodetectors (RC-PDs) onto GaAs substrates. The resulting integrated structure provides the required degree of electrical isolation from underlying conducting layers resulting in significantly improved operational speed (>1GHz) and wave length range (700nm to 2mm).a
AB - Critical to the success of optoelectronic communication systems is the rapid and errorless transmission of data. Current systems using discrete devices and hybrid integrated circuits tend to perform poorly, exhibiting undesirable characteristics such as; low operational speed (<1GHz), limited functionality, poor reliability, and restricted scalability. Improvements in such communication systems can be achieved by using optoelectronic integrated circuits (OEICs). Through the use of costly and often complicated manufacturing methods such as multistep epitaxial layer growth, OEICs can be fabricated so as to combine components such as photodiodes and amplifiers onto a single microchip. Such integration generally provides rapid data transmission with minimal error. High-speed transmission however, requires that the components comprising OEICs be electrically isolated from their associated underlying conducting layers. Presently, such isolation is achieved by forming dielectric mirrors and by selectively oxidizing layers of Al(Ga)As into AlOx. These necessary manufacturing steps further complicate OEIC fabrication and tend to lower yield. To overcome these limitations, Arizona State University researchers have developed a novel single-step epitaxial growth method for monolithically integrating components such as field effect transistors (FETs), vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSELs), and resonant-cavity photodetectors (RC-PDs) onto GaAs substrates. The resulting integrated structure provides the required degree of electrical isolation from underlying conducting layers resulting in significantly improved operational speed (>1GHz) and wave length range (700nm to 2mm).a
M3 - Patent
ER -