High-speed GaAs/AlGaAs optoelectronic devices for computer applications

We present an overview, mainly of work in our laboratory, of low-threshold GaAs/AlGaAs quantum-well laser diodes and GaAs metal-semiconductor-metal photodetectors—two optoelectronic devices which show good promise for use in computer-related communication. Present-day telecommunication device technology (based on InP materials) is not well suited to the requirements of optical data communication among and within computers because the computer environment is much more demanding. It imposes a higher ambient temperature on the devices, and requires denser packaging and smaller power dissipation per device, as well as a high degree of parallelism. The GaAs/AlGaAs device technology is ideally suited to this task because of the possibility of integration of arrays of high-speed, low-threshold laser diodes and high-speed photodetectors with high-performance electronic circuits.