News Article
Princeton Opto sets the world alight with its 800nm IR VCSELs
The gallium arsenide based illuminator chips are suited for consumer electronic 3D sensor applications
Princeton Optronics is marketing 800 and near 800nm VCSEL arrays with output powers ranging from 100mW to over 10W peak power.
These devices are designed for use in consumer electronic applications such as gesture recognition, natural user interface and 3D content creation where near infrared illumination is needed.
In 3D image sensing, the VCSEL arrays provide very low speckle, sub-nanosecond rise and fall times, and high electrical-to-optical conversion with over 45% efficiency.
Schematic of packaged VCSEL chip
These devices are highly suited to time-of-flight (TOF) or structured light applications and Princeton Opto believes they are preferred to LEDs and edge emitting lasers. This is because of their high efficiency, narrow and circular emission angle, short rise and fall times and flattop intensity profile.
They also work at temperatures as high as 800C.
The VCSELs are currently being made in large quantities and are claimed to ensure both high reliability and competitive costs compared to LEDs and conventional edge emitting lasers.
Comparison of the growth/processing flow of VCSEL and edge-emitter semiconductor lasers
The chips can be packaged in a variety of configurations for high volume applications, very similar to LEDs. They do not require a hermetically sealed housing, reducing packaging costs.
Chip sizes range from 0.5 x 0.5mm2 to 3 x 3mm2 depending on output power. The optics can be added to the package creating greater options for beam handling in the customer’s illumination system.
Sample chips are immediately available at wavelengths in the 800nm region and additional wavelengths can be fabricated depending on custom requirements.
