Energy Efficiency of Directly Modulated Oxide-Confined High Bit Rate 850-nm VCSELs for Optical Interconnects

The design, fabrication, and performance of the presently most energy-efficient oxide-confined 850 nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) for optical interconnects are presented. We employ a novel current spreading layer to reduce differential resistance. Compared to our previous designs, a higher indium content is used in the InGaAs quantum wells to increase the differential gain at low injected current densities. The influence of the oxide aperture diameter on the energy efficiency is determined by comparing the key performance parameters for a batch of VCSELs produced on the same epitaxial wafer, but with varying aperture diameters from 2.5 to 9.0 mu m. The static light output power-current-voltage characteristics, small-signal modulation response, and large signal performance of our VCSELs are investigated in detail. The parameters important for energy-efficient operation are analyzed including threshold current, differential quantum efficiency, and differential resistance. We observe that our single-mode VCSELs are more energy efficient than our multimode VCSELs, although our multimode VCSELs typically exhibit a larger maximum static wallplug efficiency. Error-free (defined as a bit error ratio < 1 x 10(-12)) data transmission at 25 Gb/s with a record-low dissipated heat energy of only 56 fJ/bit is achieved using a single-mode VCSEL with an oxide aperture diameter of 3.5 mu m.