SBIR Phase I: Integrated Optical Monitor for Hybrid Opto-Electronic Transmitter

该小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目描述了一种混合集成电路，该混合集成电路由在III-V半导体晶片上制造的垂直腔面发射激光器（VCSEL）组成，该III-V半导体晶片倒装芯片键合到硅芯片，该硅芯片包含用于驱动VCSEL的CMOS电路和用于监测激光器输出功率的硅检测器。半导体激光器通常配备用于功率监控的分立外部检测器。我们提出了一个集成的检测器结构，将提供一个更简单，更有效，更便宜的解决方案。在该方案中，监控探测器被设计到硅CMOS激光驱动器电路中，并被倒装芯片键合到VCSEL上，从而形成紧凑的三维电路结构。该技术提供了一种光电子-VLSI集成电路解决方案，可以在大阵列中实现，以实现低成本。其结果是晶圆级集成，封装和测试的光子上的超大规模集成电路导致巨大的制造效率的收发器模块。监控功能对于电信和存储区域网络应用至关重要，但目前阵列VCSEL收发器还不具备监控功能，而阵列VCSEL收发器最初是为数据通信应用的系统内链路而生产的。将该功能并入并行光链路具有强大的市场吸引力。由于每个VCSEL上的内置实时监视器，本发明还将使得能够对VCSEL退化和寿命测量进行更多的定量研究。到目前为止，这类研究一直依赖于对小样本人群的间歇性测量。本发明将首次允许从现场部署的系统在VCSEL上收集连续的实时可靠性数据。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project describes a hybrid integrated circuit that consists of a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) fabricated on a III-V semiconductor wafer that is flip-chip bonded to a Silicon chip that contains a CMOS circuit used for driving the VCSEL and a Silicon detector that is used for monitoring the output power of the laser. Semiconductor lasers are typically supplied with discrete, external detectors that are used for power monitoring. We propose an integrated detector structure that would provide a simpler, more efficient, and cheaper solution. In this proposal, monitor detectors are designed into the Silicon CMOS laser driver circuits and are flip-chip bonded to the VCSELs creating a compact, three-dimensional circuit structure. This technology provides an optoelectronic-VLSI integrated circuit solution that can be accomplished in large arrays to achieve low cost. The result is wafer-level integration, packaging, and testing of photonic-on-VLSI leading to tremendous manufacturing efficiencies for transceiver modules.The commercial benefit of the proposed work is very straightforward. Monitoring functionality is critical for telecommunications and storage-area-network applications, but is currently not available with arrayed VCSEL transceivers that were originally produced for intra-system links for data-com applications. There is a strong market-pull for incorporating this functionality into parallel optical links. The invention would also enable more quantitative research into VCSEL degradation and lifetime measurements because of built-in real-time monitors on every VCSEL. Thus far this type of studies have relied on intermittent measurements on small sample populations. The invention would allow, for the first time, continuous, real-time reliability data to be gathered on VCSELs from deployed systems in the field.