Abstract
(English)
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Lifetime test station for Quantum-Dots lasers and VCSELs
System description
The lifetime test station we intend to use for reliability testing of Quantum-Dots lasers and VCSELs is an in-house development of the CSEM up to July 31st 2000. Afterwards, this activities have been transfered to Avalon Photonics, start-up company created by the CSEM. The system was designed and construction finished at the year end of 2000. The equipment consists of 2 parts: (1) 3 burn-in furnaces, to perform simultaneous ageing experiments at different temperatures, and (2) one characterisation test stand, where the electro-optical device parameters can be measured at room temperature.
For the lifetime measurements, the laser diodes must be mounted on TO46 headers, which can then be inserted into the burn-in sockets on the burn-in boards. These boards house up to 60 laser diodes, and may be inserted into the burn-in furnaces, where they plug into the connector of the current sources. Once in the hot furnace, the current through sectors of 15 devices at a time can be manually set. After a certain burn-in period (typically a couple of days), the boards are taken out of the furnace for device characterisation in the test stand.
The system architecture is flexible enough to accommodate a variety of devices. Currently, we run lifetime tests on single 850nm VCSELs on TO46 headers, but we can adopt the equipment to long wavelength devices, array devices, etc. .
Finally, we have developed a lifetime model, which allows us to predict the reliability of the devices at different temperatures and currents. We expect that we can apply a similar model to Quantum-Dots lasers and VCSELs.
Summary
We have been able to remove many instabilities in the life test equipment. Further steps are needed to improve current as well as temperature accuracies. Finally, we'll need to install InGaAs detectors for testing Quantum-Dots lasers and VCSELs.
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