High-Speed Micro-LEDs Based on Nano-Engineered InGaN Active Region Towards Chip-to-Chip Interconnections
Zhenhao Li, Luming Yu, Bo Liu, Xinran Zhang, Zengyi Xu, Xianhao Lin, Zhibiao Hao, Yi Luo, Changzheng Sun, Bing Xiong, Yanjun Han, Jian Wang, Hongtao Li, Lin Gan, Nan Chi, Lai Wang
Abstract
The application of high-speed micro-scale light-emitting diode (micro-LED) technology in short-distance data transmission breaks through the limitations of traditional electrical connections. This is particularly crucial as the demand for large-capacity and high-speed communications becomes more urgent, with a high-speed micro-LED light source being a key component. In this work, the alternating growth interruption method is used to grow a 3-layer InGaN nanostructure with smaller size and higher density. This approach increases local carrier concentration and reduces differential carrier lifetime. Based on the 3-layer improved InGaN nanostructure, a blue micro-LED is designed and fabricated, achieving the output optical power exceeding 0.5 mW while the electro-electric (E-E) −3 dB bandwidth exceeding 2.6 GHz. Utilizing this high-speed micro-LED as the light source, three non-return-to-zero on-off keying (NRZ-OOK) real-time communication systems are demonstrated: single-channel transmission via free-space and quartz optical fiber, and 4-channel transmission via plastic imaging fiber, achieving data rates of 3.07, 2.60, and 12.00 Gbps, respectively. Additionally, the 4-channel system achieves bit-power loading discrete multi-tone (DMT) transmission of 15.05 Gbps.