Development of high-speed pin photodiode and vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser for extended-reach optical communications

Semiconductor optical devices such as GaAs photodiodes and VCSELs have been widely deployed in data centers for optical communications due to their low cost and high-reliability features. They are crucial in implementing high-speed optical data links for data transmission. The PIN photodiode (PD) commonly serves as the receiver device in optical communications. With low leakage current, they can achieve high sensitivity and low noise. Design considerations of the PDs mainly focus on the intrinsic absorption layer and physical device structure to achieve high responsivity and bandwidth. This work discusses fabrication and process optimization to achieve enhanced device performance. A small-signal model is also established to verify and predict PD performance and assist the design process. The vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) is a semiconductor laser that emits modulated optical signals for low-loss transmission over optical channels. The transmission distance of VCSELs is typically limited to below 100m due to its multimode nature. In this work, it will be demonstrated that mode control may be achieved with a modified aperture and reflective DBR mirror design. The subject of this work is the process development, fabrication, and characterization of IMSF VCSELs to perform single-model operations. The small-signal & large-signal testing will be discussed. And finally, the recombination process enhancement will be demonstrated by combining the microwave modeling and measurement of VCSELs to point out potential further applications in a cryogenic environment.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Electrical & Computer Engr

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2023

Author dc:creator

• Wu, Dufei

Contributors dc:contributor

• Feng, Milton
• Dragic, Peter D
• Goddard, Lynford L
• Jin, Jianming

• Semiconductor
• Laser
• Photodiode
• Fabrication
• Microwave
• Data Communication

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2023 Dufei Wu

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/120338

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F120338