VCSEL variant could increase capacity and reduce costs

17 Jun 2002

A US start-up claims that its variant on a VCSEL will expand fibre transmission capacity and significantly reduce costs.

Gary Oppedahl, vice-president of operations for Novalux of Sunnyvale, California, told OLE that costs per die for long-distance transmission of multi-wavelengths could be cut by a factor of ten within a year..

The technology is called "extended cavity surface emitting laser" (ECSEL) which Novalux claims can pump more power down a fibre than the current edge-emitting diode laser-pumped technology that can only reliably provide 250;;mW..

According to Oppedahl, the key to cost savings is the capability of testing every component on a 4-inch wafer at the same time. In traditional VCSEL production, the dies are broken up, then packaged, then tested individually. The ECSEL emits vertically from the wafer so that a fibre-optic pick-up can scan 1000s of units at a time..

"We will only commit to packaging when we know the lasers work," said Oppedahl.He says that Novalux, headed by Malcolm Thompson, former CEO of dpiX, the Xerox display start-up, is bringing the Intel high-volume mind-set to this sector using Class 1 clean room facilities to produce 4-inch wafers. "Our competitors are using 2-inch," he said..

The company is currently second-sourcing other wafer suppliers including IQE of Cardiff, UK. "Customers worry about the supply chain. IQE could do what we are doing. They have the capacity," said Oppedahl. PH

Story courtesy of Opto and Laser Europe magazine.