Laser diodes integrated with electroabsorption modulators for 40 Gb, s data transmission [Elektronische Ressource] / by Martin Peschke

Informations

• Publié par: universitat_ulm
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2006
• Nombre de lectures: 26
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

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Laser Diodes Integrated with
Electroabsorption Modulators
for 40 Gb/s Data Transmission
Ph.D. Dissertation
accepted by the
Faculty of Engineering Science,
University of Ulm,
Germany
for the degree of
Doktor-Ingenieur (Dr.-Ing.)
by
Dipl.-Ing. Martin Peschke
Dean of Faculty: Prof. Dr.-Ing. H.-J. Pfleiderer
First Referee: Prof. Dr. rer. nat. K.-J. Ebeling
Second Prof. Dr.-Ing. M.-C. Amann
thSubmitted on: October 18 , 2005
thOral Examination: March 17 , 2006
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Bernhard Stegmuller¨Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 Qualitative Approach 4
2.1 ElectroabsorptionModulationBasics...................... 4
2.2 IntegrationConceptsofLaserandModulator ................. 6
2.3 Material Systems for Communication Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3 Absorption Spectra 11
3.1 Two-DimensionalElectronandHoleStates................... 12
3.2 AnalyticExpresionfortheAbsorptionCoefficient............... 14
3.3 FitAlgorithm................................... 18
3.4 Combined Photocurrent and Transmission Measurement . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.5 Kramers-KronigRelationandChirpParameter ................ 23
4 Gain Spectra 26
4.1 QuantumWellGain ............................... 27
4.2 InjectionandCarrierTransport......................... 30
4.3 SimplifiedInjectionModelforAlGaInAsQWs................. 32
4.4 ComparisontoBroadAreaLaserExperiments 36
4.5 RidgeWaveguideGainSpectra ......................... 37
5 Laser Modulator Ridge Waveguides 39
5.1 Fundamentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
5.1.1 ScalarWaveEquation. 42
5.1.2 MethodofEffectiveIndex........................ 43
5.1.3 ConfinementFactor............................ 4
5.1.4 CoupledWaveEquationandDFBSpectra............... 45
5.2 Single-ModeYieldAnalysis ........................... 49
5.3 OpticalFedback................................. 51
5.3.1 Facet Reflection and Coating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
5.3.2 InternalWaveguideReflections ..................... 52
5.4 SurfaceRoughnessScattering 53
iii6 Design and Fabrication of EMLs with Shared Active Area 55
6.1 OpticalStandard................................. 56
6.2 EpitaxialLayerDesign.............................. 58
6.2.1 EAMStaticFigureofMerit....................... 62
6.2.2 ChoiceofDetuning............................ 63
6.2.3 Epitaxial Layout I: Single QW Type Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
6.2.4 E Layout II: Double QW Type Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
6.3 DeviceGeometryDesign............................. 68
6.3.1 GratingTechnology 70
6.3.2 Substrate Influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
6.3.3 Modulator Section with and without Second Mesa Step . . . . . . . . 74
6.3.4 DeviceGeometryLayoutsA,B,CandD................ 75
7 Static Device Performance 76
7.1 EffectiveIndexofLaserModulatorWaveguides 78
7.2 DeviceA...................................... 80
7.3 DeviceB 80
7.4 DeviceC 82
7.5 DeviceD 82
7.6 On-Wafer Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
8 Thermal Properties 85
8.1 HeatGenerationinModulatorandLaser.................... 85
8.2 ThermalCrostalk................................ 87
8.3 MeasurementResults............................... 89
8.3.1 Temperature Dependent Absorption Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . 89
8.3.2 ThermalyInducedWavelengthShift.................. 90
8.3.3 EnhancedThermalPIRol-Over 92
9 Modulation Behavior 93
9.1 DynamicsoftheActiveRegion ......................... 94
9.2 StationaryPINCapacitance........................... 95
9.3 SmalSignalEquivalentCircuitModel..................... 97
9.4 InitialSmalSignalMeasurements........................ 98
9.5 High-Speed Results after Redesign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
10 Conclusion 101
A Material Fundamentals 104
A.1 III-V Compound Semiconductors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
A.2 Strained Semiconductor Layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
A.3Two-DimensionalElectronStates........................ 109A.4ExcitonicTransitions............................... 12
A.5DeterminationofQWComposition....................... 14
B Absorption and Transition Probability 115
C Method of Finite Differences 118
D Semiconductor Drift/Diffusion Equations 120
D.1 Unknowns and Boundary Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
D.2 Layer Dependent Input Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
D.3 Input Parameters for the whole Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
D.4 Auxiliary Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
D.5Algorithm..................................... 125
E List of Symbols 126
F List of Acronyms 133
G Material Data 135
G.1InP......................................... 135
G.2GaAs........................................ 136
G.3AlAs. 137
G.4InAs. 138
G.5BowingParameter ................................ 138
G.6MaterialRefractiveIndices............................ 139Chapter 1
Introduction
Due to the ongoing expansion in the data communication market, the demand for high band-
width applications is ever increasing. Today, this market is about to overtake the classical
telecommunication industry. Multimedia applications like music and video on demand or
video telephony require data rates in the range of tens of megabits per second (Mbps) at
the consumer end. Numerous electrical and optical transceiver systems are struggling to
dominate the communication market. Traditional electrical systems like Integrated Services
1 2 3,4Digital Network (ISDN) , Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) and electrical Ethernet are usu-
ally less expensive as their infrastructures are already available, but their physical limitations
demand massive error correction measures. Optical solutions like optical Ethernet or fiber
to the home have a much better intrinsic bandwidth length product and associated market
potential, but their price restricts them to niche markets these days. Cheaper multi-mode
5technology limits this benefit and possible applications. Yet, it is not obvious at which
bandwidth and link distance the border between electrical and optical solutions will settle.
For a breakthrough in the datacom market, inexpensive and reliable optical single-mode
products are a must.
Today, there is a variety of optical transmitters available on the market or undergoing re-
search and development. Concerning bandwidth, light emitting diodes (LEDs) are limited
to a few hundred megahertz (MHz) [1]. Directly modulated semiconductor lasers such as
distributed feedback (DFB) and vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) exceed this
value by a factor of ten or more, reaching up to 10 GHz [2, 3, 4]. However, strong chirp and
restricted extinction ratio limit the maximum link distance of those devices to approximately
10 km due to dispersion and noise [5]. Long distance and high-end bandwidth applications of
40 GHz and more are dominated by external modulators. In contrast to directly modulated
lasers, they can be designed to exhibit both, zero chirp and high extinction ratio. Today,
1ISDN standard, 128 kbps
2ADSL2+ on telephone cable, 25 Mbps, up to 1 km
3IEEE 802.3ab Ethernet standard, on twisted pair cable category 5, 1 Gbps, up to 100 m
4 802.3an on shielded cable category 6, 10 Gbps, up to 100 m
5step profile fiber, bit rate length product 50 Mbps·km, gradient profile fiber up to 1 Gbps·km [1]
12 Chapter 1. Introduction
Mach-Zehnder (MZ) devices [6] are commonly used due to their intrinsic low chirp behavior,
optical input power and temperature insensitivity, and the possibility of modulation formats
other than amplitude switching.
Another modulator concept is the electroabsorption modulator (EAM) [7, 8]. Here, the
optical power is controlled by variable waveguide attenuation rather than the constructive
and destructive interference in a MZ device. Besides a small driver voltage swing (1 to 2 V
compared to typically 2 to 10 V), EAMs have the potential of reducing production costs by a
factor of more than ten compared to conventional MZ modulators. This is due to their very
small footprint (100µm length compared to a few mm), yielding 30 times more devices per
wafer, simple device technology and the possibility of monolithic integration with a laser light
source. The latter avoids coupling losses, polarization control and sophisticated packaging,
which are the predominant expense factors of today’s products. On the other hand, ab-
sorption modulators suffer from high-temperature sensitivity, a decrease in bandwidth with
modulated optical power, and a chirp parameter that is only small for high residual absorp-
tion. Integrated devices have to overcome the limitations of optical feedback into the laser
and certain design trade-offs depending on the integration principle.
This thesis will evaluate the potential of electroabsorption modulated lasers (EMLs) with
the most simple integration