Apple Inc.

Keith Lyon

Arnaud Laflaquiere

Fei Tan

Marc A Drader

Weiping Li

Niv Gilboa

Roei Remez

Chin Han Lin

Arnaud Laflaquière

Scott Thomas Smith

Noah Denis Bedard

Refael Della Pergola

Gershon Rosenblum

Emanuel Mordechai

Christophe Vérove

Milan Maksimovic

Maoz Ovadia

Siddharth Joshi

Ronen Akerman

Omer Korech

Brian Mccall

An integrated emitter device incudes a silicon die, including an array of control circuits, and a plurality of integrated emitter modules disposed on the silicon die. Each integrated emitter module includes a single epitaxial stack comprising multiple layers of III-V semiconductor compounds, which define a vertical emitter including an optically active layer and upper and lower distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) on opposing sides of the optically active layer, and a transistor in series with the vertical emitter and including a terminal in contact with a respective one of the control circuits, so as to actuate the vertical emitter in response to a control signal applied to the terminal by the respective one of the control circuits.

Vertical emitters with integrated final-stage transistor switch

An image sensing device includes a detector assembly, which includes a matrix of optical sensing elements having a predefined pitch. Each optical sensing element includes an active area having a width that is less than 90% of the pitch. An array of optical apertures are respectively aligned with the optical sensing elements such that each optical aperture is positioned at a distance from a respective optical sensing element that is no less than twice the width of the active area. Objective optics are configured to focus light from a scene onto the detector assembly.

Imaging array with directional response

Disclosed herein are self-mixing interferometry (SMI) sensors, such as may include vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) diodes and resonance cavity photodetectors (RCPDs). Structures for the VCSEL diodes and RCPDs are disclosed. In some embodiments, a VCSEL diode and an RCPD are laterally adjacent and formed from a common set of semiconductor layers epitaxially formed on a common substrate. In some embodiments, a first and a second VCSEL diode are laterally adjacent and formed from a common set of semiconductor layers epitaxially formed on a common substrate, and an RCPD is formed on the second VCSEL diode. In some embodiments, a VCSEL diode may include two quantum well layers, with a tunnel junction layer between them. In some embodiments, an RCPD may be vertically integrated with a VCSEL diode.

Self-mixing interference device for sensing applications

An optoelectronic device includes a semiconductor substrate having first and second faces. An emitter is disposed on the first face of the semiconductor substrate and is configured to emit a beam of radiation through the substrate. At least one curved optical surface is formed in the second face of the semiconductor substrate. A first reflector is disposed on the first face in proximity to the emitter, and a second reflector is disposed on the second face in proximity to the curved optical surface, such that the second reflector reflects the beam that was emitted through the semiconductor substrate by the emitter to reflect back through the semiconductor substrate toward the first reflector, which then reflects the beam to pass through the semiconductor substrate so as to exit from the semiconductor substrate through the curved optical surface.

Folded optical conjugate lens

An optical device includes a first array of emitters disposed on a substrate and configured to emit respective beams of optical radiation in a direction perpendicular to the substrate. A second array of microlenses is positioned on the substrate in alignment with the respective beams of the emitters, having respective sag profiles that vary over an area of the substrate. The second array includes at least first microlenses in a central region of the substrate and second microlenses in a peripheral region of the substrate, such that the first microlenses have respective first focal powers, while the second microlenses have respective second focal powers, which are less than the first focal powers.

Microlens array with tailored sag profile

An optoelectronic device includes a semiconductor substrate having first and second faces. A first array of emitters are formed on the first face of the semiconductor substrate and are configured to emit respective beams of radiation through the substrate. Electrical connections are coupled to actuate selectively first and second sets of the emitters in the first array. A second array of microlenses are formed on the second face of the semiconductor substrate in respective alignment with the emitters in at least one of the first and second sets and are configured to focus the beams emitted from the emitters in the at least one of the first and second sets so that the beams are transmitted from the second face with different, respective first and second focal properties.

Vertical emitters with integral microlenses

An optoelectronic device includes a semiconductor substrate and an optically-active structure, including epitaxial layers defining a lower distributed Bragg-reflector (DBR) stack, a quantum well structure with P- and N-doped layers disposed respectively on opposing sides of the quantum well structure, and an upper DBR stack. Electrodes are coupled to apply a bias voltage between the P- and N-doped layers. Control circuitry, disposed on the substrate, is configured to apply a forward bias voltage between the electrodes so as to cause the optically-active structure to emit an optical pulse through the upper DBR stack, and then to reverse the bias voltage between the electrodes so as to cause the optically-active structure to output an electrical pulse to the control circuitry in response to incidence of one or more of the photons, due to reflection of the optical pulse, on the quantum well structure through the upper DBR stack.

Integrated device for optical time-of-flight measurement

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Keith Lyon