A programmable SIMD vision chip for real-time vision applications

A programmable vision chip for real-time vision applications is presented. The chip architecture is a combination of a SIMD processing element array and row-parallel processors, which can perform pixel-parallel and row-parallel operations at high speed. It implements the mathematical morphology method to carry out low-level and mid-level image processing and sends out image features for high-level image processing without I/O bottleneck. The chip can perform many algorithms through software control. The simulated maximum frequency of the vision chip is 300 MHz with 16 x 16 pixels resolution. It achieves the rate of 1000 frames per second in real-time vision. A prototype chip with a 16 x 16 PE array is fabricated by the 0.18 mu m standard CMOS process. It has a pixel size of 30 mu m x 40 mu m and 8.72 mW power consumption with a 1.8 V power supply. Experiments including the mathematical morphology method and target tracking application demonstrated that the chip is fully functional and can be applied in real-time vision applications.

Ultrafast dynamics of four-state magnetization reversal in (Ga,Mn)As

The ultrafast dynamics of in-plane four-state magnetization reversal from compressively strained (Ga,Mn)As film was investigated by magneto-optical Kerr rotation measurement. The magnetization reversal signal was dramatically suppressed upon pumping, and recovered slowly with time evolution. The low switching field H-c1 increased abruptly from 30 to 108 G on the first several picoseconds and recovered back to the value before optical pumping within about 500 ps, whereas the high switching field H-c2 did not change obviously upon pumping, implying a domain-wall nucleation/propagation at low fields and coherent magnetization rotation at high fields in the magnetization reversal process.

Electron spin quantum beats and room temperature g factor in GaAsN

We report on the investigation of electron spin quantum beats at room temperature in GaAsN thin films by time-resolved Kerr rotation technique. The measurement of the quantum beats, which originate from the Larmor precession of electron spins in external transverse magnetic field, yields an accurate determination of the conduction electron g factor. We show that the g factor of GaAs1-xNx thin films is significantly changed by the introduction of a small nitrogen fraction.

Characteristic analysis of the optical delay in frequency response of resonant cavity enhanced (RCE) photodetectors

With consideration of the modulation frequency of the input lightwave itself, we present a new model to calculate the quantum efficiency of RCE p-i-n photodetectors (PD) by superimposition of multiple reflected lightwaves. For the first time, the optical delay, another important factor limiting the electrical bandwidth of RCE p-i-n PD excluding the transit time of the carriers and RCd response of the photodetector, is analyzed and discussed in detail. The optical delay dominates the bandwidth of RCE p-i-n PD when its active layer is thinner than several 10 nm. These three limiting factors must be considered exactly for design of ultra-high-speed RCE p-i-n PD.

1310 nm GaInNAs triple quantum well laser with 13 GHz modulation bandwidth

The emission wavelength of a GaInNAs quantum well (QW) laser was adjusted to 1310 nm, the zero dispersion wavelength of optical fibre, by an appropriate choice of QW composition and thickness and N concentration in the barriers. A triple QW design was employed to enable the use of a short cavity with a small photon lifetime while having sufficient differential gain for a large modulation bandwidth. High speed, ridge waveguide lasers fabricated from high quality material grown by molecular beam epitaxy exhibited a damped modulation response with a bandwidth of 13 GHz.

Fabrication and modulation characteristics of 1.3 mu m p-doped InAs quantum dot vertical cavity surface emitting lasers

We present the fabrication of 1.3 mu m waveband p-doped InAs quantum dot (QD) vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) with an extremely simple process. The continuous-wave saturated output power of 1.1 mW with a lasing wavelength of 1280 nm is obtained at room temperature. The high-speed modulation characteristics of p-doped QD VCSELs of two different oxide aperture sizes are investigated and compared. The maximum 3 dB modulation bandwidth of 2.5 GHz can be achieved at a bias current of 7 mA for a p-doped QD VCSEL with an oxide aperture size of 10 mu m in the small signal frequency response measurements. The crucial factors for the 3 dB bandwidth limitation are discussed according to the parameters' extraction from frequency response.

A 1,000 Frames/s Programmable Vision Chip with Variable Resolution and Row-Pixel-Mixed Parallel Image Processors

A programmable vision chip with variable resolution and row-pixel-mixed parallel image processors is presented. The chip consists of a CMOS sensor array, with row-parallel 6-bit Algorithmic ADCs, row-parallel gray-scale image processors, pixel-parallel SIMD Processing Element (PE) array, and instruction controller. The resolution of the image in the chip is variable: high resolution for a focused area and low resolution for general view. It implements gray-scale and binary mathematical morphology algorithms in series to carry out low-level and mid-level image processing and sends out features of the image for various applications. It can perform image processing at over 1,000 frames/s (fps). A prototype chip with 64 x 64 pixels resolution and 6-bit gray-scale image is fabricated in 0.18 mu m Standard CMOS process. The area size of chip is 1.5 mm x 3.5 mm. Each pixel size is 9.5 mu m x 9.5 mu m and each processing element size is 23 mu m x 29 mu m. The experiment results demonstrate that the chip can perform low-level and mid-level image processing and it can be applied in the real-time vision applications, such as high speed target tracking.

Study on the perfection of in situ P-injection synthesis LEC-InP single crystals

Undoped, S-doped and Fe-doped InP crystals with diameter up to 4-inch have been pulled in drop 10 0 drop -direction under P-rich condition by a rapid P-injection in situ synthesis liquid encapsulated Czochralski (LEC) method. High speed photoluminescence mapping, etch-pit density (EPD) mapping and scanning electron microscopy have been used to characterize the samples of the single crystal ingots. Dislocations and electrical homogeneity of these samples are investigated and compared. By controlling the thermal field and the solid-liquid interface shape, 4-inch low-EPD InP single crystals have been successfully grown by the rapid P-injection synthesis LEC method. The EPD across the wafer of the ingots is less than 5 x 10(4) cm(-2). Cluster defects with a pore center are observed in the P-rich LEC grown InP ingots. These defects are distributed irregularly on a wafer and are surrounded by a high concentration of dislocations. The uniformity of the PL intensity across the wafer is influenced by these defects. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

10 Gbit s(-1) electroabsorption-modulated laser light-source module using selective area MOVPE

A distributed-feedback (DFB) laser and a high-speed electroabsorption (EA) modulator are integrated, on the basis of the selective area MOVPE growth (SAG) technique and the ridge waveguide structure, for a 10 Gbit s(-1) optical transmission system. The integrated DFB laser/EA modulator device is packaged in a compact module with a 20% optical coupling efficiency to the single-mode fibre. The typical threshold current is 15 mA, and the side-mode suppression ratio is over 40 dB with the single-mode operation at 1550 nm. The module exhibits 1.2 mW fibre output power at a laser gain current of 70 mA and a modulator bias voltage of 0 V. The 3 dB bandwidth is 12 GHz. A dynamic extinction ratio of over 10 dB has been successfully achieved under 10 Gbit s(-1) non-return to zero (NRZ) operation, and a clearly open eye diagram is obtained.

A 10-GHz bandwidth electroabsorption modulated laser by ultra-low-pressure selective area growth

A novel integration technique has been developed using band-gap energy control of InGaAsP/InGaAsP multi-quantum-well (MQW) structures during simultaneous ultra-low-pressure (22 mbar) selective-area-growth (SAG) process in metal-organic chemical vapour deposition. A fundamental study of the controllability of band gap energy by the SAG method is performed. A large band-gap photoluminescence wavelength shift of 83nm is obtained with a small mask width variation (0-30 mu m). The method is then applied to fabricate an MQW distributed-feedback laser monolithically integrated with an electroabsorption modulator. The experimental results exhibit superior device characteristics with low threshold of 19 mA, over 24 dB extinction ratio when coupled into a single mode fibre. More than 10GHz modulation bandwidth is also achieved, which demonstrates that the ultra-low-pressure SAG technique is a promising approach for high-speed transmission photonic integrated circuits.

Silicon membrane resonant-cavity-enhanced photodetector

A Si resonant-cavity-enhanced (RCE) photodiode was fabricated on a silicon membrane. The Si membrane was formed by etching from the back side of the silicon-on-insulator substrate with the buried SiO2 layer as etch-stop layer. A gold layer was deposited serving as an electrode layer and bottom mirror of the RCE photodiode. The photodiode had an external quantum efficiency of 33.8% at the resonant wavelength of 848 nm and a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 17 nm. The responsivity was 4.6 times that of a conventional Si p-i-n photodiode with the same absorption layer thickness. (c) 2005 American Institute of Physics.

Novel folding large-scale optical switch matrix with total internal reflection mirrors on silicon-on-insulator by anisotropy chemical etching

A compact optical switch matrix was designed, in which light circuits were folded by total internal reflective (TIR) mirrors. Two key elements, 2 x 2 switch and TIR mirror, have been fabricated on silicon-on-insulator wafer by anisotropy chemical etching. The 2 x 2 switch showed very low power consumption of 140 mW and a very high speed of 8 +/- 1 mus. An improved design for the TIR mirror was developed, and the fabricated mirror with smooth and vertical reflective facet showed low excess loss of 0.7 +/- 0.3 dB at 1.55 mum.

Performance improvement of GaN based Schottky barrier ultraviolet photodetector by adding a thin AlGaN window layer

We propose a new structure of GaN based Schottky barrier ultraviolet photodetector, in which a thin n-type AlGaN window layer is added on the conventional n(-)-GaN/n(+)-GaN device structure. The performance of the Schottky barrier ultraviolet photodetector is found to be improved by the new structure. The simulation result shows that the new structure can reduce the negative effect of surface states on the performance of Schottky barrier GaN photodetectors, improving the quantum efficiency and decreasing the dark current. The investigations suggest that the new photodetector can exhibit a better responsivity by choosing a suitably high carrier concentration and thin thickness for the AlGaN window layer.

Frequency mixing and phase detection functionalities of three-terminal ballistic junctions

Three-terminal ballistic junctions (TBJs) are fabricated from a high-mobility InP/In0.75Ga0.25As heterostructure by electron-beam lithography. The voltage output from the central branch is measured as a function of the voltages applied to the left and right branches of the TBJs. The measurements show that the TBJs possess an intrinsic nonlinearity. Based on this nonlinearity, a novel room-temperature functional frequency mixer and phase detector are realized. The TBJ frequency mixer and phase detector are expected to have advantages over traditional circuits in terms of simple structure, small size and high speed, and can be used as a new type of building block in nanoelectronics.

Modulation response analysis of 1.3 mu m quantum dot vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers

Some important parameters, such as gain, 3 dB bandwidth and threshold current of 1.3 mu m quantum dot vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (QD VCSEL) are theoretically investigated. Some methods are developed to improve the VCSEL's modulation response. Significant improvement are prediced for p-type modulation doping. In connection with the threshold characteristic, we found that a structure with short cavity, multilayer quantum dots stack, p-type modulation doping and double intracavity contact on an un-doped DBR is much better suited to high speed quantum dot VCSELs. The parasitic effects of the VCSEL are,analyzed and the influence of packaging of the VCSEL on its modulation responds is analyzed.