MONOLITHIC OPTICAL DATA TRANSMITTERS

THIS PROPOSAL DESCRIBES A SIX-MONTH PROGRAM TO ADDRESS THE FEASIBILITY OF COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION PROCESSES FOR MONOLITHIC INTEGRATION OF A SEMICONDUCTOR LASER DIODE AND ITS ASSOCIATED DRIVING/MODULATING TRANSISTOR. THE INITIATIVE FOR THIS WORK STEMS FROM AN IDENTIFIED MARKET. PACIFIC MONOLITHICS HAS TOLD NSI THAT THEY WOULD PURCHASE LARGE QUANTITIES OF THIS TYPE OF PRODUCT, IF AVAILABLE. THE LASER WILL BE OF THE GRADED INDEX SEPARATE CONFINING HETEROSTRUCTURE SINGLE QUANTUM WELL (GRINSCH-SQW) TYPE WHICH HAS PRODUCED THE HIGHEST PERFORMANCE SEMICONDUCTOR LASERS TO DATE. THE TRANSISTOR STRUCTURE WILL BE THE STRAINED CHANNEL. MODULATION DOPED FIELD EFFECT TRANSISTOR (MODFET) TYPE. THIS TYPE MODFET HAS PRODUCED THE WORLD'S FASTEST TRANSISTOR FOR THE PROPOSED GEOMETRY. THE QUANTUM WELL LASER AND TRANSISTOR STRUCTURE WILL BE GROWN BY MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY (MBE) AND SCALED UP TO 3 INCH DIAMETER SUBSTRATES ON NSI'S DUAL CHAMBER MBE MACHINES FOR MASS PRODUCTION (COST REDUCTION). THESE INDIVIDUAL DEVICES AND MATERIALS, AS WELL AS THE GROWTH AND FABRICATION TECHNOLOGIES, HAVE BEEN DEMONSTRATED AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY. PHASE I OF THIS PROGRAM WOULD EXTEND THIS KNOWLEDGE TO INCLUDE THE INTEGRATION TECHNOLOGY. THIS IS A NECESSARY CONDITION FOR CONFIEDENCE IN FUTURE MANUFACTURABILITY. THE LASING WAVELENGTH WILL BE APPROXIMATELY 850 NM, SUITABLE FOR SHORT HAUL PLASTIC OR MULTIMODE GLASS FIBERS (LOCAL AREA) OPTICAL SIGNAL TRANSMISSION. IN THE FUTURE, THIS TECHNOLOGY WOULD LEAD ON TO OPTICAL NETWORKING.