A simple surface-emitting LED array useful for developing free-space optical interconnect

A surface-emitting light source array of homojunction visible (660 nm) GaAsP light-emitting diodes (LEDs) has been developed to demonstrate the feasibility of new microimaging techniques in vertical optical interconnects. The fabrication process used to create arrays of these independently addressable light sources is described. A study of contact annealing showed that a two-step furnace anneal yielded higher radiance devices than rapid thermally annealed devices. A 4*4 array was used with a reflective focusing diffractive optic element to image light onto photodetectors, thereby proving the usefulness of this source in developing vertical optical interconnects.<
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