Integrated optoelectronic switching technologies for reconfigurable optical interconnects.

摘要

The increasing need for data capacity has made it more attractive than ever to use optical communication technology for shorter and shorter distances. The need for high performance, low cost optical components and switches in order to realize the advantages of optical communication systems, such as reduced cross-talk, reduced latency and the use of various multiplexing schemes, at ever shorter distances has motivated the research conducted in this dissertation.;This dissertation investigates the design, fabrication and demonstration of an integrated optoelectronic switch consisting of p-i-n photodetectors, HBT electronics and VCSEL light sources. The trade-offs made during the epi-layer design of the integrated p-i-n/HBT structure and the factors which limit the modulation bandwidth of the three individual devices are examined. The four possible functions of the switch, transmitting, receiving, routing and electronic amplification, are demonstrated at speeds of up to 500 MB/s. The switch operates with a peak optical gain as high as 1.13 W/W, which is sufficient to permit the multi-stage cascading of these switches in an optical communication network.;In order to successfully compete with electronic interconnect solutions however the modulation bandwidth of the switches must be increased to greater than 1 Gb/s. The last part of this dissertation describes the work done in order to achieve this goal. Improvement in the performance of the HBTs is demonstrated, increasing ft from ∼250 MHz to ∼16 GHz. The development of Resonance-Enhanced PhotoDetectors (REPDs) increases both the modulation bandwidth and the responsivity of the photodetector component of the integrated optoelectronic switch, both of which were limiting factors in the operation of the first generation switch.;In order to increase the data throughput of the switch a WDM technology was developed. The demonstration of multiplexing and demultiplexing with integrated wavelength graded source and detector arrays was accomplished with VCSELs and REPDs created with a new growth technique previously demonstrated.;The second generation integrated optoelectronic switch is demonstrated using these improved components at speeds well in excess of 1 Gb/s, proving the viability of the integrated optoelectronic switching technology for future high speed optical communication networks.