Front End Plasma Solutions for InP-Based Lasers and Photodiodes

Continuously increasing global data traffic is putting pressure on the optical communication network and driving demand for transceivers with more and more bandwidth. InP-based photonic integrated circuits are already firmly established in this market and manufacturing capability is expected to scale up to support the required network infrastructure transformation.

The key applications of InP-based components include lasers for silicon photonics, transceivers in data centres, mobile backhaul, access networks and metro markets. The properties of InP and related compound semiconductor materials make them desirable semiconductors for the manufacture of optoelectronic devices that can operate at high frequencies. Furthermore, their natural wavelength range of operation of 1300 – 1650 nm perfectly matches the optimal spectral range of optical fibres used for fibre optic communications.

Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology has developed advanced InP plasma processing solutions to deliver cost-effective, high-yield and high-performance processing strategies, to support the scaling up of manufacturing capability. In this white paper, we discuss some critical plasma processing steps to produce lasers and photodiodes and share our processing capability.