992

IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. QE-18, NO. 6, JUNE 1982

Optical

AND

Gate

Abstract-We have successfully demonstrated a new type of logic cir cuit which provides an optical output pulse that is the AND function of two wavelength multiplexed opticalinputsignals. The active components of this optically coupled logic gate are a triggerable semiconductor laser and a novelphotodetector consisting of twoseries photodiodes which are sensitive in different wavelength bands.

OPTICALAN0

oUTPUT(A.B)JSEM~CONDUCTOR

$ 1
GATE
TRIGGERABLE

LASER

INPUT A

POSSIBLE technique for the realization of high-speed logic and memory circuits is the use of optical coupling between logic gates. Optical coupling offers the potentialadvantage of very low gate propagation delays because gate interconnect capacitance, the principal limitation on the speed of conventional circuits, can be eliminated. Initial work in this area has relied on the creationof a nonlinear interaction between two lasers. The approaches which have been used include: 1) the bistable polarization of a dye laser in a birefringent cavity [ I ] , 2) the quenching of one semiconductor laser with another laser [2], [3], 3 ) the interaction of two laser beams in a saturable absorber [4], 4) optical excitation of intracavity saturable absorbers in a semiconductor laser [ 3 ] ,and 5) the coupling of two parallel pyroelectric photodetectors to a bulk electrooptic modulator [ 5 ] . More recently, Taylor [6] has proposed that optical logic circuits could be fabricated by interconnecting integrated optical devices such as interferometric modulators and directional coupler switches. In this paper we report on a new type of optical logic gate which utilizes two high-speed electrooptic devices, a dual p-i-n photodetector [7] and a triggerable semiconductor laser. Fig. 1 shows a circuit diagram of an AND gate for which both the inputs and the output are in the form of optical pulses. There are three active components: two p-i-n photodiodes and a triggerable semiconductor laser (TSL). A characteristic of TSLs is that for a particular bias current, the light output increases abruptly (almost discontinuously) [9], [lo]. It has been shown that appreciable gain can be achieved by biasing the TSL just below this point and triggering the laser with a small additional current pulse [lo]. After triggering, light is emitted in short (<lo0 ps), intense (>lo0 mW) pulses with a period of a few nanoseconds. The two series-connected photodiodes in Fig.1 constitute an AND gate in the sense that their electrical output is the AND function of the optical inputs. If light is incidenton both photodiodes simultaneously (i.e., logical 1s at both inputs), and if the TSL is biased near its

INPUT

-1)

PHOTODIODES

Fig. 1. Circuitdiagram of an opticallycoupled AND gate.Theactive components of thiscircuitare two discrete photodiodes connected i n series and a triggerable semiconductor laser.

Manuscript received December 21, 1981. Theauthorsare with Crawford Hill Laboratory,BellLaboratories, Holmdel, NJ 07733.

trigger point, the photocurrent will be sufficient to trigger the laser. As long as the duration of the current pulse from the photodiodes is less than the pulsation period of the TSL, the gate output will be a single optical pulse. However, if one of the input signalsismissing(i.e., a logical 0 at one or both inputs), the off diode(s) will act as a blocking element and will prevent the laser from triggering. Thus, in this circuit, the series photodiode combination performs the logic and the TSL provides gain pulse compression and the conversion ofthe signal back to an optical format. Fig. 2 shows a schematic cross section of an AND gate photodetector which integrates the two photodiodes in Fig. 1 onto a single chip. Thetwophotodiodes in this structure are sensitive in different wavelength bands, thuspermitting the use of wavelength multiplexed inputs instead of two spacially separated beams. This approach permits the reduction of the device area as wellas the minimization of the interconnect capacitance. Thestructure consists of five epitaxial layers grown by LPE on a (100) oriented InP substrate. The first layer grown is an n-type InP buffer layer. This is followed in succession by an n-: Ino.7oGa0.30AS0.66P0.34 quaternary layer (Eg N- 0.92 eV), a p+:InP layer, an n: Id layer, and an n-: Ino.47Gao.53As ternary(T) layer (Eg-0.75 ev). During crystal growth some Zn diffuses from the p+:JnP layer creating a p-n junction in the Q layer. After crystal growth, a second p-n junction about 3 pm deep is formed in the Tlayer by Zn diffusion (-2 h at 500C) in a closed ampoule. Contacts are fabricated by pulse electroplating Au-Zn to the Zn-diffused T region, Au-Sn to the substrate and then alloying at 425OC. Individual mesas (approximately 75 pm in diameter) are etched in a dilute solution of bromine-methanol. Prior to mounting

(e)

0018-9197/82/0600-0992$00.75 0 1982 IEEE

CAMPBELL et 01.: OPTICAL AND GATE

DUAL- WAVELENGTH AND GATE

993

TIME (5pr/div)

. . )

SHORT X INPUT A

L~NG x INPUT f3

Fig. 3. Experimental operation of the AND gate photodetector. The upper trace and middle traces are the drive currents for the short ( h 2 1.03 pm) and long ( h 1.3 pm) wavelength sources, respectively. The lower trace is the outputcurrent of the AND photodetector.

Fig. 2. Schematic cross section of the AND gate photodetector.

the devices on headers, a window is etched in the back contact to permit illumination through the InP substrate. Wavelength discrimination is achieved in a similar manner as the dual wavelength demultiplexing photodetector [ 121 , [ 131 ; however, the AND gate photodetector described in this paper differs from the demultiplexing photodetector both structurally and functionally. The two primary differences in thestructures are that the AND gate photodetector uses an n-type substrate instead of p-type and has a p :InP layer and a thick (>3 pm) n+ :InP layer separating the Q and T layers in place of a thin, lightly doped n- :InP layer. The function of the demultiplexing photodetector is to separate signals in two different wavelength bands. This is accomplished using a parallel configuration which requires three terminals. (We note here that an optical OR gate could be fabricated by coupling the demultiplexing photodiode to a triggerable laser.) The AND gate photodetector, on theotherhand, is atwo terminal device which, owing to the fact that the photodiodes are connected in series, provides an output only when both optical inputs are on simultaneously. To illustrate the blocking action of the off diode, we consider the case where initially both photodiodes are off and suddenly one diode receives an input pulse. Initially, the bias voltage is divided equally between the Q and T photodiodes. When the input signal turns one of the, photodiodes on, the photogeneratedcurrent in thatphotodiode will exceed its reverse saturation current. To compensate there will be a flow of charge from theother ( ~ f f ~ diode. ) Thiswill result in an increase in the potential drop across the off diode and a corresponding decrease in the bias across the on diode. This process will continue until the 0 d 7 diode is sufficiently forward biased to generate a current equal to and opposite to the photocurrent. At that point, the net current through the device will be zero and the potentials across the off diode and on diode will be approximately the bias voltage and the open circuit voltage, respectively. These devices have been tested by using a beam splitter to combinethe light from twodifferent wavelength emitters. The results are shown in Fig. 3. The upper trace is the drive current for the short wavelength source, an LED which has an emission peak at 1.03 pm. The middle trace is the drive current

0 . 8

0 . 9

1 . 0 1.1

1 1 . . 2 3

1 . 4 1 1 . 1 . 5 1 . 6 . 7 8

WAVELENGTH l p m )

Fig. 4. Spectralresponses of the quaternary Ino.7oGa0.30AS0.66P0.34 (dark solid line) and ternary Ino.47Gao.53As (light solid line) photodiodes which comprisethe AND gate photodetector.

for the long wavelength emitter which, in this figure, is a 1.3 pm source, but 1.55 pm sources have also been used. The lower trace is thedetector output. In addition to confirming that the electrical output of this device is the AND function of the optical inputs, this figure also reveals two sources of the trigger noise characteristic of this type of detector; namely, crosstalk, which is seen as a small residual signal when one of the input signals is off, and transient spikes, which occur whenever one of the inputs changes states. In our better devices we find that the total crosstalk, which can be both optical and electrical in origin, is 15 dB below the signal level. Optical crosstalk occurs when light from the inputs is absorbed in the wrong layer.Todeterminethe magnitude of this component, a third terminal was added to a few devices so that the spectral response of each photodiode could be measured separately. In Fig. 4 thedarkandlight curves are the responsivities of the Q and T, respectively. The short wavelength cutoff of the Q layer is due to absorption in the InP substrateand the long wavelength cutoff of both curves corresponds to the bandgap energies of the Q and T layers. In a properly designed structure the wavelengths of the emitters should be well to each side of the region where the responsitivity curves cross. The wavelength at which this crossover occurs can be adjusted to minimize the optical crosstalk by changing the crystal composition of the Q layer. The shape of the two responsitivity curves should be symmetrical at about the crossover point, but in Fig. 4 we observe that the T layer exhibits some response at short wavelengths (X < 1.26 pm). This is

994

IEEE JOURNAL OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS, VOL. QE-18, NO. 6 , JUNE 1982

due to incomplete absorption in the Q layer. Our experience with demultiplexing photodetectors has shown that this source of crosstalk can be eliminated by making the Q layer thicker. The other possible cause for optical crosstalk, namely, the absorptiqn of lmg.wavelength photons in the Q layer, appears to be insignificant in these devices. There are two mechanisms for electrical crosstalk. The first is the leakage current of an off diode. Since there is always a certain amount of leakage current in a reverse biased photodiode, this mechanism will set a lower limit on the crosstalk. The reverse leakage current density of the T and Q diodes are plotted in Fig. 5 . We observe that the leakage current of the Q diode is much less than that of the T diode. Some difference is expected due to the lower bandgap energy of the T layer and to variations in the background doping levels but these two factqrs alone do not seem to be sufficient to explain the difference observed here. The lower leakage current of the Q diode may also be due in part to the difference in the way the junctions are fabricated. Electrical crosstalk can also occur if the reverse biased Q and T diodes are not adequately isolated from minority carriers injected by the forward-biased junction separating them. However, by growing the p:InP and n: InP separation layers sufficiently thick, we have successfully eliminated this source of electrical crosstalk. Transient pulses represent a more serious source of trigger noise than crosstalk. Whenever there is a change in the state of one of the optical inputs, there willbe a current pulse while charge stored on the photodiodes reaches a new steady state distribution. In the worst case, the charge in thetransient current pulse will be V , C where V, is the bias voltage and Cis the diode capacitance. A transient pulse and a superimposed s i p d pulse are shown in the photograph in Fig. 6. For atriggerable laser to successfully discriminate between these two pulses, the height of the signal pulse should be about three times that of the transient. We find that the AND gate photodetector can achieve this level of discrimination with as little as 5 pJ of input energy. The rise time of the AND gate photodetector is approximately 3 ns. In our present devices the rise time is diffusion limited because the absorbing layers are not completely depleted. The fall time, on the other hand, is RC limited with R being the sum hf the dynamic, series, and load resistances. We observe fall times of -12 ns. Improvements in both the rise time and fall time should be achievable by further optimization of the device parameters such as layer thicknesses and doping levels. We have successfully demonstrated the AND gate proposed in Fig. 1 by coupling the amplified output of the AND gate photodetector described above to a protonbombarded GaAs-Al,Ga,-,As triggerable laser. Fig. 7 shows the output of the laser fordifferentinputstates. The top trace shows that during the 20 ns that both optical input pulses are on simultaneously the laser emits light in a series of short pulses. By contrast, the middle and lower traces show that if either of the optical inputs is off the laser is not triggered. Hence, if the presence of a light pulse is equated to a logic 1 and its absence to a logic 0, this combination of photodiodes and a triggerable laser provides an optical output which is the AND function of twowavelength multiplexed optical inputs. In conclusion, we have fabricated and characterized a novel photodetector consisting of two series photodiodes which are

l I I l 1 1 1 1 1 1 l / , 1 1 1 / , I , 1 1 1 l I l I I I I I I I I

-5

-10

- 15 -20 -25 REVERSE B I A S ( V !

-30

Fig. 5 . Leakage current density of the quaternary and ternary photodiodes.

Fig. 6 . A transient noise pulse (smaller pulse) and a superimposed signal pulse (larger pulse).

sensitive in different wavelength bands. By coupling this photodetector to a triggerable semiconductor laser, we have demonstrated a gate having an optical output which is the logical AND function of two optical input signals. If sufficiently high speeds can be achieved, integrated devices of this type could become the building blocks of optically coupled logic circuits. ACKNOWLEDGMENT We are grateful to S . E. Miller for helpful discussions. We thank F. J. Favire, J. C . Centanni, J. F. Ferguson, G. J. Qua, and W. B. Sessa for capable technical assistance and M. Dixon for supplying the triggerable laser.

CAMPBELL et al.: OPTICAL AND GATE

995

Fig. 7. Lght output of a triggerable laser which has been coupled to the AND gate photodetector. The top trace shows that the laser is triggered and emits light in a series of short pulses when both optical inputs are on. The two lower traces show the laser output for first one and then the other optical input off.

REFERENCES
[ l ] E. J. Johnson, L. A. Riseberg, A. Lempicki, and H. Samuelson,
[21

[3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

[SI
[9] [lo]
[ 111

[12]

[13]

Completely optical coincidence logic employing a dye laser, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 26, pp. 444-447, Apr. 15, 1975. G. J. Lasher and A. B. Fowler, Mutually quenched injectionlasers as bistable devices, IBM J. Res. Develop., vol. 8, pp. 471-475, Sept. 1964. N. G. Basov,V.V. Nikitin, and A. S . Semenov, Dynamics of semiconductor injection lasers, Sov. Phys. Usp.,vol. 12, pp. 219239, Sept. 1969. 0. A. Reimann and W. F. Kosonocky, All-optical computer techniques, IEEE Spectrum, vol. 2, pp. 181-183, Mar. 1965. A. M. Glass and T. J. Negran, Optical gating and logic with pyroelectriccrystals,Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 24, pp. 81-82, Jan. 1974. H. F. Taylor, Guided wave electro-optic devices for logic and computation,Appl. Opt., vol. 17, pp. 1493-1498, May, 1978. J. A. Copeland, J. C. Campbell, A. G. Dentai, and S . E. Miller, Wavelength-multiplexed AND gate; A building block for monolithic optically-coupled circuits, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 39, pp. 197-199, Aug. 1,1981. J. A. Copeland, Triggerable semiconductor lasers and lightcoupled logic, J. Appl. Phys., vol. 51, pp. 1919-1921, Apr. 1980. T. L. Paoli, Saturable absorption effects in the self-pulsing (A1Ga)As junction laser, Appl. Phys. Lett., vol. 34, pp. 652655, May 15,1979. J. A. Copeland, S. M. Abbott,and W. S. Holden, Triggerable semiconductor lasers, IEEE J. Quantum Electron., vol. QE-16, pp. 388-390, Oct. 1979. C. A. Burrus, Pulse electropolating of high-resistance materials, poorly contacted devices, and extremely small areas, J. Electrochem. Soc., vol. 188, pp. 833-834, May 1971. J.C. Campbell, T. P. Lee, A. G . Dentai, and C. A. Burrus, Dualwavelength demultiplexing InGaAsP photodiode, Appl.Phys. Lett., vol. 34, pp. 401-402, Mar. 15,1979. J. C. Campbell, A. G. Dentai, T. P. Lee, and C. A. Burrus, Improved two-wavelength demultiplexing InGaAsP photodetector, IEEEJ. QuantumElectron.,vol. QE-16, pp. 601-603, June 1980.

Andrew G. Dentai (76) was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1942. Hereceived the Dipl.Engineer of Chemistry degree from the University of Chemistry, Veszprem, Hungary, in 1966, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in ceramic science from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, in 1973 and 1974, respectively. From 1969 to 1972 he worked at Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, on high punty alumina materials, application of freeze-drying techniques to the preparation of ceramic raw materials, and fluorescent ceramics. In 1974 he rejoined Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ, as a member of the Guided Wave Research Laboratory. Currently he is involved with epitaxial crystal growth of 111-V semiconductors for the preparation of a variety of electroluminescent devices and photodetectors covering the wavelength range of 0.81.65 pm.

Joe C. Campbell (SY73-M74)was born in Gorman, TX, on January 11, 1947. Hereceived the B.S. degree in physics from the University of Texas, Austin, in 1969, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 1971 and 1973, respectively. From 1974 to 1976 he was employed by Texas Instruments, Inc., where he worked on integrated optics in GaAs/AlGaAs. Since 1976 he has been at the Crawford Hill Laboratory, Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ, where he has worked on electrooptic devices for fiber optics applications. Dr. Campbell is a member of Sigma Xi,the American PhysicalSociety, and the Optical Society of America.

John A. Copeland (M67-SM76) attended Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, from 1958 to 1965, receiving the B.S., M S . , and Ph.D. degrees in physics. His doctoral dissertation was on the quantum theory of ferromagnetism. He is currently Head of the Repeater Research Department, Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ. Since joining Bell Laboratories in 1965, his work has included theoretical studies of spacecharge dynamics and thermal noise generation as well as experimental studies of devices for high-speed logic and millimeter-wave power generation. He has also contributed to the field of magnetic-bubble domains and participated in the design of the MAC8 microprocessor. His recent work is on semiconductor lightwave systems and optically coupled logic. Dr. Copeland is a member of the American Physical Society. In 1970 he received the IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Awardfor his work on galliumarsenide microwave devices. Hewas Editor of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRON DEVICES from 1971 to 1973.

Wayne S. Holden (60) was born in Kingston, PA, on February 2, 1947. He graduated from RCA Institute in 1970. In 1970 he joined Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ, where he has been involved in the evaluation of optical fiber parameters and the design of electronic circuitry foroptical fiber communication systems. He is presently engaged in the processingand evaluation ofemitters and detectors used in fiber optical communications systems.