Finisar Corporation

Other

Intel Corporation

Robert W Herrick

Charles B Roxlo

Tsurugi Sudo

T H Ola Sjolund

Gregory DeBrabander

Rohit Mittal

Jen-Chyun Chen

Suning Xie

Matthew C Slater

Mahan Movassaghi

Th Ola Sjolund

In embodiments, an apparatus to predict failure of a laser is presented. The apparatus may include a memory to store a reference model of bias current change for a laser as a function of time and temperature, one or more sensors to detect: temperature, elapsed operating time and bias current of the laser, and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and to the one or more sensors. The processor may be to calculate an actual bias current change &#x394;IA at a current laser temperature, and an expected bias current change &#x394;IE, based at least in part on the reference model and an average operating temperature, subtract &#x394;IE from &#x394;IA, and if the difference is greater than a pre-defined value &#x3b1;, output a signal. Related methods and non-transitory computer-readable media may also be presented.

Laser failure early warning indicator

Semiconductor lasers are aged to identify weak or flawed devices, resulting in improved reliability of the remaining devices. The lasers can be aged using a high-power optical burn-in that includes providing a high drive current to the lasers for a period of time, and maintaining the ambient temperature of the lasers at a low temperature. After the high-power optical burn-in, the output of the lasers can be measured to determine if the lasers are operating within specifications. Those that are not can be discarded, while those that are can be further aged using a high-temperature thermal burn-in that includes providing a drive current to the lasers while maintaining the ambient temperature of the lasers at a high-temperature.

Methods for testing lasers using optical burn-in

High-power optical burn-in

A method for detecting a passivation pinhole includes forming an oxide vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) having an oxidation cavity, forming a passivation layer over a surface of the oxidation cavity, exposing the oxide VCSEL to an etchant vapor, and inspecting the oxide VCSEL for a defect caused by the etchant vapor.

Detecting pinholes in vertical cavity surface-emitting laser passivation

Growing community of inventors

San Jose, CA, United States of America

Robert W Herrick