Avicena is demonstrating the world’s highest temperature optical link operating at up to 235°C using its LightBundle communication architecture and technology at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference (OFC) 2023 in San Diego, CA. The Avicena LightBundle architecture breaks new ground by unlocking the performance of xPUs, memory and sensors, removing key bandwidth and proximity constraints while simultaneously offering an order-of-magnitude reduction in power consumption.
Over the past three decades, optical links have gradually replaced copper interconnects in many segments of wired communications due to their much longer reach, lower power requirements, lighter weight, and immunity to EMI. Today most optical links use semiconductor edge-emitting lasers or vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). However, these lasers typically exhibit dramatic performance and lifetime reductions at operating temperatures above 85°C and are thus unable to meet the 5- to 10-year field lifetime requirements of many higher temperature applications. The lifetime limitations of these communications lasers are related to fundamental properties of the GaAs and InP semiconductors from which nearly all are made, and thus have proved very difficult to improve significantly despite decades of effort.
By contrast, Avicena’s LightBundle links use microLEDs made from Gallium Nitride (GaN). GaN microLEDs are much less sensitive than GaAs and InP lasers to operating temperature, specifically regarding performance and reliability. Combined with high energy efficiency and low cost, these attributes have allowed GaN LEDs to transform the lighting industry over the past decade. LightBundle technology is based on arrays of GaN microLEDs that leverage the LED lighting and display ecosystems, and can be integrated directly onto high performance CMOS ICs. Each microLED array is connected via a multi-core fiber cable to a matching array of CMOS-compatible PDs.
Now, Avicena has demonstrated LightBundle links operating at up to 235°C. This brings the benefits of optical interconnects to the harsh environments encountered in a wide variety of automotive, industrial, aerospace, and defense applications, while also offering other benefits of the LightBundle architecture.
“We have already demonstrated the benefits of LightBundle links in data center, HPC, and ML/AI with bleeding edge power and density requirements,” says Chris Pfistner, VP of Sales & Marketing at Avicena. “We have now shown that the unique benefits of the GaN materials system in microLEDs extends to applications with operating temperatures that have traditionally been beyond the capabilities of optical interconnects. This is igniting interest among our partners and customers in numerous market segments in the automotive, defense, and aerospace industries.”
