Effect of temperature on GaN-integrated optical transceiver chips

Area of Science:

• Optoelectronics
• Materials Science
• Semiconductor Physics

Background:

• Gallium nitride (GaN) integrated optical transceiver chips utilizing multiple quantum wells (MQW) are crucial for advanced communication and sensing.
• Understanding the impact of ambient temperature on these devices is essential for reliable performance and new applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To comprehensively investigate the effect of ambient temperature on the performance of GaN-integrated optical transceiver chips.
• To analyze the temperature-dependent characteristics of both the blue MQW light-emitting diode (LED) and the MQW photodiode (PD) components.

Main Methods:

• Measured temperature-dependent light-emitting and current-voltage characteristics of blue MQW LEDs from -70°C to 120°C.
• Evaluated MQW photodiode (PD) light detection performance under varying temperatures using an external blue MQW LED.
• Characterized the integrated chip's PD response to its on-chip MQW LED across different temperatures.

Main Results:

• Increasing ambient temperature caused a decrease in electroluminescent (EL) intensity and a redshift in the emission peak wavelength of the blue MQW LED.
• MQW PD sensitivity improved with rising ambient temperature.
• PD photocurrent on the GaN-integrated chip increased with higher ambient temperatures.

Conclusions:

• The performance of GaN-integrated optical transceiver chips is significantly influenced by ambient temperature.
• The observed temperature characteristics, particularly the enhanced PD sensitivity, highlight the potential of these chips as optoelectronic temperature sensors.