OPTOELECTRONIC INTEGRATED CIRCUIT8

R.

r. teheny

Bell Communications Research, Inc.

Red Bank, NJ 07701
ABSTRACT

The monolithic integration of optical

and electronic devices on a single chip,
OptoElectronic Integrated Circuits
(OEICs), represents an emerging device
technology with potential to meet a broad
range of future telecommunications and
computing systems needs. As in the case
of entirely electronic circuits,
monolithic integration offers advantages
of compactness, reliability, reduced cost
in volume p\roduction,and the possibility
for performance improvements from reduced
parasitics. These advantages have been
widely recognize for some time but the
problems associated with integrated
components having very different materials
and structural requirements have presented
formidable barriers to demonstration of
components that compete in performance
with hybrid integration. We see changes
occurring however, with continuing
advances in device design and fabrication
technologies, as well as in materials
growth and processing technologies, that
are today providing a strong technology
push for continued research on OEICs. At
the same time, as semiconductor
optoelectronic components are incorporated
into an increasing variety of
communications and computing systems, and
demand for low cost, high volume
components grows, we see a market pull for
OEIC innovation to satisfy emerging
systems needs.

INTRODUCTION

The current trend in optoelectronic

device research for communications systems
is away from point-to-point links and
toward more versatile systems designed to
exploit the very broad band capability of
optics. For telecommunications the focus
of research has shifted from long-haul
systems with relatively low optoelectronic
component counts, cost shared among a
large number of subscribers, to
distribution in the local loop where the
wide bandwidth of fiber offers the
possibility for greatly enhanced services,

but where the cost of components can only

be shared among only a few end users. For
computing systems the trend is towards
distributed data networks, with the
capability of rapid reconfiguration,
linking remote locations to high speed
processing and extended data bases. With
the ever increasing requirement for high
speed inter-connects even for relatively
short spans, such as cabinet-to-cabinet or
accross the back plane of complex systems,
the bandwidth and low loss of optical
technologies offers advantages over the
physical size and complexity of copper
interconnection. Even down to the level
of interchip connection of VLSI circuits,
the density and complexity of traditional
wire bonding and circuit board connections
is stimulating research interest for
possible optical alternatives [l].
A typical optical system consists of
a source, transmission medium (either
fiber, optical waveguide or free space),
and a receiver. For spans greater than a
few tens of kilometers glass fiber is the
medium of choice, and, for lowest loss and
signal dispersion, operation in the
wavelength bands at 1.3 and 1.5 pm is
dictated. These wavelengths require use
of components fabricated from InP based
materials. For shorter spans where loss
or pulse dispersion are not so critical,
or free space transmission is an option,
shorter wavelength GaAs based devices can
be used. However, regardless of the
optoelectronic material technology, the
effective information bandwidth of the
transmission medium far exceeds the
capability of the practical tuning range
of discrete sources and detectors, or the
bandwidth of electronic transmitting and
receiving circuits.
In fact the range of operating
wavelengths available to optical systems
is so large that it provides an effective
means for routing signals using wavelength
division multiplexing, providing
wavelength selective elements are
incorporated into the signal distribution
system. Therefore, future optical systems
are expected to incorporate transmitters
and receivers with some degree of
wavelength selectivity, as well as passive
transmission systems with wavelength

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selectivity for routing signals. For

these systems the integration of both
passive and active components, such as
illustrated in Fig 1. onto a single chip
offers significant advantages in size and
reliability over hybrid realization of the
same functionality [ 2 ] .
What characterizes these applications
for replacing traditional electronic
interconnection technologies with optical
is the requirement for low cost, reliable
means for conversion between electronic
and optical signal formats with minimum
cost or loss of performance. In most cases
research or demonstration systems aimed at
demonstrating the capability of optical
interconnections are realized using hybrid
components that tend to be expensive,
bulky and unreliable for mass distribution
applications. Monolithic integration
offers advantages for low cost through
batch processing, and greater reliability
through elimination of packaging related
factors that can degrade reliability.
Integration also minimizes the influence
of parasitics that limit high speed
performance and sensitivity in receivers.
NATEPIALS ISSUES

With all these long recognized

advantages, what is limiting the rapid
introduction of OEIC components? The
answer lies in part in the complex
material structures required to create
high performance components. For example
today's state-of-the-art lasers diodes,
capable of efficient tuning over a range
of wavelengths, consist of couples
structures designed to control the flow of
current through the active region, to
control the optical mode of the emitted
light for good output beam
characteristics, and to provide wavelength
selective elements for frequency control.
High performance transistor designs, such
as low noise HEMTs and heterojunction
bipolar transistors, require tight control
over material structure and doping.
sensitive photodetection using pin diodes
or APDs, and the realization of efficient
passive waveguide devices for optical
signal distribution, each have their
unique material requirements. Integration
of these components either requires some
compromise in performance or a means of
realizing the required material structure
for each type of component on different
regions of the substrate. It is this
requirement of OEIC technology that has
impeded their rapid development, but
continuous advancement of materials growth
and processing technologies are rapidly
eliminating many of these limitations.
Figure 2 illustrates how a combination of
detector (MSM), HEMT transistor and other
circuit elements can be incorporated onto
a single chip by growth in an etched well

with etch removal of materials from areas

where it is not required to achieve a
planar surface [ 3 ] .
TLZMISIIITTERS

Advances in laser diode design over

the past decade have resulted in
techniques for incorporating optical
waveguides and frequency selective
elements with the laser active region to
produce frequency stabilized and tunable
laser devices. This technology has
advanced to the point that researchers at
AThT Bell Labs have demonstrated the
integrated optical transmitter illustrated
in Fig. 3, [ 4 ] . This research device
incorporates multiple, wavelength tunable,
lasers with output waveguide couplers and
optical amplifiers to produce a source
with an extended tuning range. This
approach to integration that doesn't
include any electronic components is
referred to as PIC, Photonic Integrated
Circuits. PIC fabrication relies on the
controlled etching and regrowth of the
material structures to achieve the
individual components. These material
growth and processing technologies have
also been applied to the fabrication of
integrated optical mixer incorporating;
laser U) oscillator, waveguide couplers
for balanced distribution of signal and
LO, and dual photodetectors for coherent
detection [ 5 , 6 ] . This accomplishment
comes close to realizing most of the
optical component functions illustrated in
Fig. 1. While currently still representing
a considerable fabrication challenge,
these PICs will be essential components
for WDM systems using densely packed
source wavelengths.
Integration of high speed drive
transistors with lasers has also been
demonstrated. Here the goal is to more
efficiently drive the laser at high speed
by elimination of the inductance
associated with bond wires. Integration
with high performance electronic
components has also been demonstrated to
allow incorporation of high speed
multiplexiers circuits with the laser as
well [ 7 , 8 ] .
I(ECE1VERS

There has perhaps been greater effort

devoted to integrating photodetectors with
receiver electronics than any other type
of OEIC. This is in part because the
integration of a relatively simple
structure like a pin diode with receiver
electronics seems like a relatively
straight forward process and in part
because the Figure of Merit for an optical
receiver (FOM-Input Transistor
Transconductance, GJNet Input Capacitance
Squared, $) can be improved significantly

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using integration to minimize parasitic

capacitance at the transistor input node.
In fact the integration of a pin diode is
not a simple problem. To avoid the
difficulties associated with fabrication
of pin diodes with electronic components,
an alternative design, based on the use of
reversed biased back-to-back Shottky
diodes to form a Metal-Semiconductor-Metal
detector, has evolved as the preferred
detector for OEIC receiver applications.
Since the detector metalization can be
done at the same fabrication step as the
FET gate metalization the use of MSM
detectors greatly simplifies processing,
but these detectors have an additional
advantages in their design permits simple
planar contacts and which exhibit nearly
an order of magnitude less capacitance per
unit detector area than the traditional
pin design [9].
First realized in GaAs circuits MSM
detectors have become the detector of
choice for OEICs and have been used in the
very complex reliever circuits including
the OEIC reported by researchers at IBM
that integrates detectors, amplifiers and
timing recovery onto a single MSI level IC
[lo]. While in principal capable of
greater sensitivity than hybrid
receivers, OEICs for use at 1.3 or 1.5 jbm
have lagged behind GaAs based circuits due
to difficulties in realizing high
performance transistors in the InP based
material system. This situation has
recently improved [3, 11, 121 and
currently OEIC receivers with,
sensitivities approaching that of
commercial hybrid receivers are being
reported, see Fig 4 [13]. OEIC receivers
should in principal out perform hybrid
circuits, but the advantage that a hybrid
circuit designer has in selecting the best
components for each circuit element still
provides a competitive advantage for
Were" experiments.

References
M. Degenais, R. F.Leheny, H. Temkin
and p. Bhattacharya, 8gapplications
and Challenges of OEIC Technology: A
Report of on the 1989 Hilton Head
Workshopt9;J. Lightwave Tech S I 846
(1990)
121

"Technology and Systems Issues for a

WDM-based Fiber Loop Architecture";
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[31

G-K Chang, W. P. Hong, J. L. Gimlett,

R. Bhat, C. K. Nguyen, G. Sasaki and
J. C. Young, "A 3 Ghz Transimpedance
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G. Eisenstein and R. H. Bosworth, *I
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FUTURE PROSPECTS

Until recently OEIC research has been

focused primarily on demonstrating what
can be accomplished within the existing
materials and materials processing
technologies. In the past two years
significant advances in both the scale and
performance of OEICs have been realized.
The current trend towards increasing
complexity in optoelectronic component
designs can be expected to continue
driving advances in materials and
processing technologies and this will
maintain the momentum for improvements in
OEIC components. For the future we expect
OEIC designs to be increasingly targeted
to meet specific systems applications
where they can begin to significantly
impact system performance, particularly in
those applications requiring arrays of
devices.

S. S . Wagner and H. Lemberg,

[81

Y. H. Lo, P. Grabbe, M. Bagheri, P.

D, Lin, J. P. Harbison, M. A.
Koza, L. T. Florez and T. P Lee, "The
Application of GaAs-on-Inp
Heteroepitaxial Technology to LongWavelength OEIC-Transmitter,
Multipexer , and More" ; Conf Digest
LEOS Summer Topical Meeting on Integrated Optics, July 1990, p. 42
S.

c91

J. B. Soole, H. Schumacher, H. P.
LeBlanc, R. Bhat and M. Koza, "High
Speed Performance of OMCVD Grown
InAlAS/InGAAS MSM Photodetectors at
1.3 and 1.55 pm"; IEEE Photonics
Tech. Lettrs. A, 250 (1989)

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[lo] J. D. Crow, C. J. Anderson, S.

Bermon, A. Callegari, J. F. Ewen, J.
D. Feder, J. H. Greiner, E. P.
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[ U ] H. Yano, K. Aga, H. Kamei, G. Sasaki,

and H. Hayashi, lgMonolithicpin-HEMT
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[13] 0. Wada, Extended Abstracta: 5th
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ECI0'89 (Paris) SPIE U, 1141
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[ll] W. S. Lee, D. A. H. Spear, M. J.

Agnew, P. J. G. Dawe and S. W. Bland,
Ig1.2 Gbits/s Fully Integrated
Transimpedance Optical Receiver OEIC
for 1.3-1.55 pm Transmission
Systemsmg;Electr. Lettrs. a,377
(1990)

Three Tunable DBR Lasers

Photonic lntearated Circuit

Integrated Coherent Optical Receiver

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