Trends in high speed interconnects: InP monolithic integration

InP PIC technologies offer unsurpassed optoelectronic performance and are a key enabler for high-performance optical transceivers. InP lasers are the default solution for the communications lasers operating in the 1300–1600 nm wavelength window. As integration technologies continue to mature and information rates scale up, increasingly sophisticated monolithic techniques are deployed for both discrete devices and integrated circuits for longer-reach networking and higher data rates. The possibility to engineer the band gap across the wafer delivers a rich range of functions in an ever-decreasing footprint. Lasers are combined with additional devices such as modulators, multiplexers, detectors and hybrids within the same chip. Wafer scale production offers a proven route to cost-effective, high-volume production. Monolithic integration reduces cost through reduced test time and simplified assembly and packaging. This chapter reviews the techniques, capabilities and future potential for InP-integrated photonics with a particular reference to requirements in the rapidly evolving data interconnect market, driven in particular by data centres, where energy efficiency, bandwidth and volume production are crucial.