Performance and reliability of oxide confined VCSELs

We discuss the performance and reliability of oxide confined VCSELs optimized for datacom applications. The devices are employed in the Siemens PAROLI/sup TM/ high performance parallel optical link. This optical link provides 12 parallel channels with a total bandwidth exceeding 12 Gbit/s. The VCSEL threshold current is approximately 3 mA. The threshold current variation within the array is less than 50 /spl mu/A. The electrical series resistance is about 50 /spl Omega/. The emission wavelength of approximately 850 nm matches the specification of common standards like the HIPPI 6400. Life times of the oxide confined VCSELs are several million hours under normal operating conditions. The life time for an array drops to a single device, but is still larger than 1 million hours. The devices exhibit good stability under environmental stress conditions such as temperature cycling and damp heat storage.