(Nanowork News) A domestic research team has developed a technology for mass producing quantum dot lasers, which are widely used in data centers and quantum communications. This innovation can reduce the cost of producing semiconductor lasers to 1/6 of the current level.
The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced on the 1st that it has developed the technology to mass-produce quantum dot lasers, which had previously been limited to research purposes, for the first time in Korea. This was achieved using a metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) system.
ETRI's Optical Communication Components Research Division has succeeded in developing an indium arsenide/gallium arsenide (InAs/GaAs) quantum dot laser diode on a gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrate suitable for the 1.3μm wavelength band (1260–1360 nm) used in optical communications.
They reported Tehir's findings as follows: Journal of Alloys and Compounds (“High-temperature continuous-wave operation of all MOCVD-grown InAs/GaAs quantum dot laser diodes with high-strain InGaAs layer and low-temperature p-AlGaAs cladding layer”).
ETRI's Optical Communication Components Laboratory has successfully developed an indium arsenide/gallium arsenide (InAs/GaAs) quantum dot laser diode based on a gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrate suitable for the 1.3µm wavelength band (1260~1360nm) used in optical communication.
Traditionally, quantum dot laser diodes have been produced using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), but this method is slow and inefficient, making mass production difficult. The research team has significantly improved the productivity of quantum dot laser manufacturing by utilizing MOCVD, which has higher production efficiency. Quantum dot lasers are known for their excellent temperature characteristics and high tolerance to substrate defects, allowing for larger substrate areas and consequently lower power consumption and production costs.
The newly developed quantum dot manufacturing technology boasts high density and excellent uniformity. The produced quantum dot semiconductor laser demonstrated continuous operation at temperatures up to 75 degrees Celsius, providing world-leading performance in the results obtained through MOCVD.
Previously, optical communication devices were manufactured using expensive 2-inch indium phosphide (InP) substrates, which were expensive. A new technology that uses GaAs substrates, which cost less than one-third of the InP substrate, is expected to reduce the manufacturing cost of communication semiconductor lasers by more than one-sixth.
This technology can significantly reduce process time and material costs because it can use large-area substrates.
The research team plans to further optimize and verify this technology to increase reliability and transfer it to domestic optical communication companies. These companies will receive core technology and infrastructure support through ETRI's semiconductor foundry to accelerate the commercialization schedule.
The expected reduction in development time and production costs will make our products more price competitive, potentially increasing our international market share. These developments are expected to revitalize the domestic optical communications components industry.
In modern society, optical communications plays a central role in our industry. The research team's achievements are expected to bring about major innovation in the development of light sources that connect apartment complexes to large cities and submarine optical cables.
Professor Daemyung Geum of Chungbuk National University, who participated in this research, said, “Quantum dot’s mass production technology has dramatically lowered the production cost of expensive optical communication devices, increasing the competitiveness of the national optical communication component industry and contributing greatly to basic scientific research.”
Dr. Ho-Seong Kim of ETRI’s Optical Communication Components Laboratory said, “This research achievement is a representative case that has secured both commercial viability and fundamental innovation, and has the potential to change the paradigm of the semiconductor laser industry for optical communications.”