CST Global presents on DFB laser longevity at Lisbon Conference
Laser lifetime calculations show less than 0.01 percent fails after ten years
CST Global research rngineer, Horacio Cantu, was a guest speaker at the Applications in Optics and Photonics (AOP) conference in Lisbon, in May 2019. Horacio was there to present his recently submitted paper entitled, 'Reliability of Ridge Waveguide Distributed Feedback Lasers for Communications Applications: from Device Specification and Failure Analysis to Life-time Calculation'.
A high-volume, data transmission solution suitable for widespread use in optical fibre networks must be low-cost and capable of reliable deployment in an uncooled, non-hermetic package, without temperature control. This is a challenging environment for InP, Ridge Waveguide, DFB Lasers and can adversely affect their longevity.
Horacio explains, “The research carried out at CST Global looked at how reliability performance is affected by power, temperature and humidity along with the impact of fabrication and assembly processes like epitaxial growth, etching, die bonding and wire bonding. We not only understand how the fabrication processes used for Ridge-Waveguide, DFB lasers impact device quality and yield, but also their effect on longevity.
"Systematic design improvements, right back at the characterisation stage, helped to optimise the lasers. We then accurately predicted longevity with lifetime calculations showing less than 0.01 percent fails after ten years.”
