DiLaN: Diode Laser manufacturing process using Nano-imprint lithography

宽带通信不可阻挡的发展为低成本单模半导体激光器创造了巨大的市场（> 1亿单位/年），单模半导体激光器发射约1.3- 1.55 μ m，作为光纤通信到驻地（FTTP）的光源。目前部署的技术（例如无源光网络PON）以1.25-2.5 Gb/s的线路速率运行。然而，满足大规模扩展的带宽需求将需要实施新的PON标准，其需要更高性能、更低成本的激光源。该项目的英国工业合作伙伴已经是该市场的重要材料和芯片规模供应商。我们的项目旨在用低成本、高产量的纳米压印工艺取代激光器制造工艺中的高成本纳米级光刻步骤，以实现激光器芯片制造成本的20-30%的成本节约。然而，据我们所知，纳米压印光刻技术尚未在大规模半导体激光器制造中实施，因此，需要进行大量的风险消除活动来建立、鉴定和产出工程师新的过程，以释放生产率的提高。

The inexorable growth in broadband communications has created an enormous market (>100M units pa) for low cost, single-mode semiconductor lasers emitting around 1.3-1.55um as sources in fibre optic communicationsto the Premises (FTTP). Current technologies deployed (such as Passive Optical Networking, PON) operate at line rates of 1.25-2.5 Gb/s. However, satisfying the massively expanding bandwidth demand will require implementation of new PON standards that require higher performance, lower cost laser sources. The UK industrial partners in this project are already significant materials and chip scale suppliers to this market. Our project addresses the replacement of a high cost nm-scale lithography step in the laser manufacturing process with a low cost, high throughput nano-imprint process to realise a cost saving of 20-30% in the Cost of Manufacture of the laser chip.However, to our knowledge, the nano-imprint lithography technique has not been implemented in volume semiconductor laser manufacturing, and so there is significant de-risking activity required to establish, qualify and yield engineer a new process to unlock the productivity gains.