Impact of the Oxide Aperture Width on the Degradation of 845 nm VCSELs for Silicon Photonics

For the first time, we analyzed the degradation as a function of the oxide aperture in 845 nm VCSELs designed for silicon photonics (SiPh) applications. First, we evaluated the optical degradation of the devices by collecting EL images during a constant current stress. The experimental results showed an increased spreading of the optical beam of the VCSEL with increasing ageing time. Based on numerical simulations, we demonstrated that the electrical degradation (increase in series resistance) is responsible for a larger current spreading which, in turn, increases the FWHM (full width half maximum) of the optical beam. We further evaluated the series resistance variation by aging four lasers with different oxide apertures. The results of this set of experiments showed that the electrical degradation is stronger as the oxide aperture is smaller, and mostly depends on the contribution of the top DBR resistance. Thanks to our analysis we proved that the use of a larger aperture can result in a better device reliability.