CST Global presents at AOP 2019 on how to ‘design in’ ridge-waveguide DFB laser longevity

III-V optoelectronic foundry Compound Semiconductor Technologies Global Ltd (CST Global) of Glasgow, Scotland, UK says that, at the IV International Conference on Applications in Optics and Photonics (AOP 2019) in Lisbon, Portugal (31 May-4 June), its research engineer Horacio Cantu was a guest speaker, presenting his recently submitted paper ‘Reliability of Ridge Waveguide Distributed Feedback Lasers for Communications Applications: from Device Specification and Failure Analysis to Life-time Calculation’.

A high-volume, data transmission solution suitable for widespread use in optical fiber networks must be low-cost and capable of reliable deployment in an uncooled, non-hermetic package, without temperature control, notes CST Global. This is a challenging environment for indium phosphide (InP), ridge-waveguide (RW) distributed feedback (DFB) lasers, and can adversely affect their longevity, adds the firm.

“The research carried out at CST Global looked at how reliability performance is affected by power, temperature and humidity along with the impact of fabrication and assembly processes like epitaxial growth, etching, die bonding and wire bonding,” says Horacio. “We not only understand how the fabrication processes used for ridge-waveguide DFB lasers impact device quality and yield, but also their effect on longevity,” he adds. “Systematic design improvements, right back at the characterization stage, helped to optimize the lasers. We then accurately predicted longevity with lifetime calculations showing less than 0.01% fails after ten years.”

Tags: CSTG

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