High-efficiency, high-speed VCSELs for optical interconnects

High-efficiency, high-speed, tapered-oxide-apertured vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) emitting at 980 nm have been demonstrated. By carefully engineering the tapered oxide aperture, the mode volume can be greatly reduced without adding much optical scattering loss for the device sizes of interest. Consequently, these devices can achieve higher bandwidth at lower current and power dissipation. In addition, the parasitics are reduced by implementing deep oxidation layers and an improved p-doping scheme in the top mirror. Our devices show modulation bandwidth exceeding 20 GHz, a record for 980 nm VCSELs. Moreover, 35 Gb/s operation has been achieved at only 10 mW power dissipation. This corresponds to a data-rate/power-dissipation ratio of 3.5 Gbps/mW. Most importantly, our device structure is compatible with existing manufacturing processes and can be easily manufactured in large volume making them attractive for optical interconnects.