Data communication using blue GaN-on-Si micro-LEDs reported on a 200-mm Silicon substrate
Résumé
In this paper, Gallium Nitride (GaN) blue microLight-Emitting-Diodes (µLEDs) reported on a 200-mm Silicon substrate are utilized for multi-Gb/s data transmission. The manufacturing process is compatible with CMOS integrated circuit design, paving the way for fully integrated transmitters for µLED-based visible light communications (VLC) or chip-to-chip interconnects. Fiber-guided transmission has been realized using direct current optical-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DCO-OFDM) modulation, and a data rate of 5.9 Gb/s at a BitError-Rate (BER) of 3.8×10-3 is reported using a single 50×50 µm2 blue µLED. This data rate was further improved to reach 15.5 Gb/s in the case where the µLED is only limited by its non-linear distortions instead of the system’s noise, highlighting the high linearity of GaN µLEDs.