Monolithic vertical cavity surface emitting laser and resonant cavity photodetector transceiver
First Claim
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1. An optical transceiver, comprising:
- a monolithic device having a vertical cavity surface emitting laser with at least one mirror region having a first reflectivity, and a resonant cavity photodetector with at least one mirror region having a second reflectivity that is greater than an AlGaAs semiconductor-air interface, wherein the first reflectivity is different than the second reflectivity.
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Abstract
A monolithic transceiver that includes both a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) and a resonant cavity photodetector (RCPD) formed therein. The monolithic transceiver may also be an array of VCSEL and RCPD devices. The monolithic transceiver may be an integrated circuit, and may include a substrate layer. Both the vertical cavity surface emitting laser and the resonant cavity photodetector may be grown or otherwise formed on the substrate layer using standard processing techniques. Because standard processing techniques may be used, the present invention may provide a highly manufacturable transceiver, with independently controlled laser and photodetector characteristics.
207 Citations
38 Claims
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1. An optical transceiver, comprising:
a monolithic device having a vertical cavity surface emitting laser with at least one mirror region having a first reflectivity, and a resonant cavity photodetector with at least one mirror region having a second reflectivity that is greater than an AlGaAs semiconductor-air interface, wherein the first reflectivity is different than the second reflectivity. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. An optical transceiver for providing an output light emission in response to an input electrical signal and for providing an output electrical signal in response to an input light emission, comprising:
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a vertical cavity surface emitting laser for providing the output light emission in response to the input electrical signal; and a resonant cavity photodetector for providing the output electrical signal in response to the input light emission, wherein the vertical cavity surface emitting laser and the resonant cavity photodetector are monolithically formed on a common substrate, and wherein the input light emission and output light emission travel generally parallel to an axis that is substantially perpendicular to the common substrate, the vertical cavity surface emitting laser having an output mirror and the resonant cavity photodetector having an input mirror, the output mirror and the input mirror each formed from one or more DBR mirror periods, the output mirror of the vertical cavity surface emitting laser having a higher reflectivity than the input mirror of the resonant cavity photodetector.
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7. A monolithic optical transceiver, comprising:
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a vertical cavity surface emitting laser including; a first VCSEL mirror region having a first reflectivity, the first VCSEL mirror region electrically coupled to a first VCSEL terminal; a second VCSEL mirror region electrically coupled to a second VCSEL terminal; and a VCSEL active region situated between the first and second, VCSEL mirror regions; a resonant cavity photodetector including; a first RCPD mirror region having one or more DBR mirror periods and having a second reflectivity that is different from the first reflectivity of the first VCSEL mirror region, said first RCPD mirror region electrically coupled to a first RCPD terminal; a second RCPD mirror region electrically coupled to a second RCPD terminal; and an RCPD active region situated between the first and second RCPD mirror regions. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An optical transceiver for providing an output light emission in response to an input electrical signal and for providing an output electrical signal in response to an input light emission, comprising:
a monolithic device having a vertical cavity surface emitting laser means for providing the output light emission in response to the input electrical signal, and a resonant cavity photodetector means for providing the output electrical signal in response to the input light emission, wherein the input light emission and output light emission travel generally parallel to an axis that is substantially perpendicular to the common substrate, the vertical cavity surface emitting laser means having an output mirror and the resonant cavity photodetector means having an input mirror, the output mirror and the input mirror each including a dielectric stack and each having a number of dielectric stack layers, the output mirror of the vertical cavity surface emitting laser means having a higher reflectivity than the input mirror of the resonant cavity photodetector means. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
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17. A monolithic optical transceiver, comprising:
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a vertical cavity surface emitting laser including; first VCSEL mirror means having a first reflectivity, the first VCSEL mirror means electrically coupled to a first VCSEL terminal; second VCSEL mirror means electrically coupled to a second VCSEL terminal; and VCSEL active region means situated between the first and second VCSEL mirror means; a resonant cavity photodetector including; first RCPD mirror means having two or more dielectric stack layers and having a second reflectivity that is different from the first reflectivity of the first VCSEL mirror means, said first RCPD mirror means electrically coupled to a first RCPD terminal; second RCPD mirror means electrically coupled to a second RCPD terminal; and RCPD active region means situated between the first and second RCPD mirror means. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. A method for forming an optical transceiver, comprising the step of:
monolithically forming a vertical cavity surface emitting laser and a resonant cavity photodetector on a common substrate, wherein the vertical cavity surface emitting laser includes a first mirror region with a first reflectivity and the resonant cavity photodetector includes a second mirror region with a second reflectivity that is greater than an AlGaAs semiconductor-air interface, wherein the first reflectivity is different from the second reflectivity. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. An optical transceiver array, comprising:
a monolithic device forming an array of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers and an array of resonant cavity photodetectors, wherein selected ones of the vertical cavity surface emitting lasers have a mirror region formed from one or more DBR mirror periods that exhibit more reflectivity than a mirror region also formed from one or more DBR mirror periods of selected ones of the resonant cavity photodetectors. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
Specification