Reliability Assessment of 1.55-μM Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers for Optical Communication Systems

In this paper, the long-term reliability of all monolithic 1.55-μm vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) is investigated. High-temperature storage tests and accelerated life tests are used to evaluate long-term VCSEL reliability. Variations of properties that depend on the operating conditions are characterized via the threshold current, the dark current, and the optical output power. The median device lifetime is extrapolated and the activation energy of the degradation mechanism for the VCSEL test structures is calculated. From these results, the long-term reliability of the VCSEL test structures for high-speed optical communication systems can be determined.