ADVANCES IN OPTOELECTRONIC INTEGRATION

Abstract

Optoelectronic integration, in which optoelectronic devices such as lasers and photodiodes are integrated with different optoelectronic and/or electronic devices together, is expected to be a key technology in developing future lightwave systems. This is because of its potential advantages in realizing high-performance, high-manufacturability and high-functionality in optoelectronic components, which have not been developed fully due to the limit of using conventional discrete devices and assembly technique. Optoelectronic integrated transmitters and receivers are currently being developed for lightwave telecommunication and interconnection applications by a number of researchers and recent progresses in both the performance and the fabrication technology are encouraging. For example, LSI level integration has been demonstrated in GaAs-based receivers and 5- to 10-Gb/s rate operations have been shown for InP-based integrated lasers. Also a variety of optical processing functions can be implemented by optoelectronic integration. Optical logic elements based on integrated lasers and also waveguide-based circuits for wavelength-multiplexing and optical heterodyne detection are such examples. Technological challenges in optoelectronic integration will lead to a generation of future advanced optical systems for not only communication but also switching and computing. This paper describes the recent progress of this technology and discusses future directions.