NEWS ANALYSIS
While high power vertical-cavity surface emitting lasers have been under development for more than fifteen years, only now is the technology truly set to rival alternative technologies in a range of applications.
GaAs VCSELs, emitting at 850 nm, have long-served as the workhorse of the data communications industry, providing optical data links for distances of a few hundred metres. But now the GaAs VCSEL as well as longer wavelength GaN and InP devices, are making in-roads into myriad applications with the global market set for double-digit growth.
A recent market forecast from BCC Research predicts VCSEL markets will be worth some $2.1 billion come 2018, representing a five-year compound annual growth rate of 33.1 percent.
Analogue broadband signal transmission and absorption spectroscopy market segments are predicted to each hit the highest CAGRs – just over 37 percent –
while optical fibre data transmission is forecast to attain a 31.2 percent CAGR over the same five years.
For now the GaAs VCSEL is expected to remain dominant. BCC’s 2012 figures reveal GaAs grabbed a little more than 80 percent of the VCSEL market, with InP taking 13 percent, GaN only 1 percent and other materials making up the remainder.
As BCC photonics analyst, Gaurav Bhushan, explains: “GaAs VCSELs are witnessing proliferating growth in advanced sensing applications that are anticipated to fuel the next wave of innovation in consumer products including tablets, cell phones and other handheld devices.”
Gesture recognition with 3D sensing is a crucial and growing market for the technology. Earlier this year, IQE delivered the first 6-inch VCSEL epiwafers for high volume, low cost applications, citing gesture recognition for gaming and non-contact navigation
in smartphones and tablets, as well as depth imaging for 3D vision in handsets as key markets.
In a gesture recognition system, light from an infrared source is passed through an optical element to spread the light into a light sheet, so sensors can capture depth information across, say, an entire room, by measuring light reflected from its objects.
Such a system demands high power and precision, which is where the VCSEL comes into its own. Distributed feedback lasers, for example, are relatively low power, so the gesture recognition system would require several of these edge emitters. Meanwhile the LED, while cheap, cannot be modulated quickly, limiting resolution and increasing power consumption.
In contrast GaAs VCSELs offer optical efficiency within a small footprint, and come at a low cost. “VCSELs have already replaced edge emitters and LEDs in lower power applications, thanks
VCSELs: Beyond Red
When it comes to VCSELs, GaAs is the leading light, but GaN and InP devices are now gaining market share, reports Rebecca Pool.
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www.compoundsemiconductor.net Issue VI 2014 Copyright Compound Semiconductor
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