Research aiming for future optoelectronic integration the optoelectronics joint research laboratory

Progress in semiconductor optoelectronic devices in the past 20 years has been significant. With the progress of optical fibres, a new era of communication has been established by overcoming major difficulties in device technologies. However, if one considers the present status of optoelectronic technologies, one finds that a large potential advantage of semiconductor technologies, that of ´integration´, has been left unrevealed. The monolithic integration of optical and electrical devices, called optoelectronic integrated circuit (OEIC), will result in a big improvement in optoelectronic technology. The Optoelectronics Joint Research Laboratory (OJL) has been established to develop new generic technologies for optoelectronic integration. Significant progress in the material process technologies has been obtained in bulk GaAs crystal growth, a new maskless dry process using focused ion beam doping, MBE and dry etching for GaAs. The future evolution of optoelectronic technology and OEIC markets is also discussed.