Development of a FMCW LADAR Source Chip Using MEMS-ElectronicPhotonic Heterogeneous Integration

Phillip A.M. Sandborn1, Behnam Behroozpour1, James Ferrara1, Adair Gerke1,

Sangyoon Han1, Christopher Keraly1, Pengfei Qiao2, Niels Quack1, Tae Joon Seok1,
Li Zhu1, Eli Yablonovitch1, Shun-Lien Chuang2, Bernhard Boser1,
Connie Chang-Hasnain1, Ming C. Wu1
1

University of California, Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, Berkeley, CA, USA.
2
University of Illinois, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA.

Abstract: We present recent advances in the

development of an integrated Frequency Modulated
Continuous Wave (FMCW) Laser Detection and Ranging
(LADAR) source, demonstrating the capabilities of our
modular MEMS- Electronic-Photonic Heterogeneous
Integration platform, combining III-V based MEMS
tunable VCSELs with silicon photonic components and
high performance CMOS integrated electronics. Such a
compact on-chip FMCW LADAR source has broad
military and civilian applications, including e.g. mobile
3D imaging, autonomous vehicles, 3D cartography or
gesture based computing.
Keywords:
Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW); Laser
Detection and Ranging (LADAR); Light Detection and
Ranging (LIDAR); Micro-Electro- Mechanical System
(MEMS); III-V semiconductor; tunable Vertical Cavity
Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL); Optoelectronic Phase
Locked Loop (OPLL); CMOS; Silicon Photonics; 3D
Integration; 3D Imaging; Short Wavelength Infrared
(SWIR).
Introduction
3D imaging systems have become increasingly popular,
and to that end, some commercial efforts have shown
promise in creating consumer-accessible 3D imaging
sensors. The confluence of 3D imaging sensor demand
and integration of photonic components (both
monolithically and heterogeneously) for many
applications has enabled the design of inexpensive,
compact, and highly-accurate laser imaging sensors.
Many 3D imaging systems use one of two technology
architectures for target detection and ranging: a) pulse
time-of-flight (TOF) [1], or b) coherent frequencymodulated continuous-wave (FMCW) LADAR [2]. Pulse
TOF typically requires high-speed photodetection and
high-speed electronic computation in order to achieve
high range resolution, whereas FMCW sources are only
resolution-limited by the tuning range of the frequencyswept source. Several kinds of tunable lasers, such as
DBR lasers, MEMS external cavity lasers, among others,
have been successfully demonstrated in FMCW schemes,

Figure 1. a) Ranging measurement using a frequency

modulated laser source. b) The range R is encoded in
the beat frequency.

some with range resolutions on the order of 80 microns

[2, 3]. In our implementation, we have demonstrated
FMCW LADAR performance using a MEMS-actuated
high contrast grating (HCG) VCSEL [4].
FMCW LADAR
A common implementation of FMCW sources for radar
and LADAR employs the use of a linearly swept
frequency source. A laser frequency chirp is launched
toward a reflective target. The round-trip transit time from
the source to the target creates a delayed version of the
chirp. This delayed chirp is beat against a local, undelayed version of the chirp, and the intermediate beat
frequency (fbeat) directly encodes the range to the target.
This scheme is illustrated in Fig. 1. In order to realize
good LADAR performance using this architecture, it is
vital that the laser frequency sweep is linear. This
improves accuracy, decreases the amount of required
signal processing, and enables the system to reach
theoretical performance limits. In the source architecture
reported here, the frequency chirp is generated using an
optoelectronic feedback loop, which locks the frequencysweep of a MEMS-tunable laser to the phase of a local
electronic oscillator (LO).

Chirp-Generation
Through
Optoelectronic
Feedback
Fig. 2 illustrates the feedback structure used to linearize
the laser frequency chirp. Optoelectronic feedback is
implemented in a phase-locked loop architecture, in
which a reference interferometer is used as a laserfrequency discriminator. The reference interferometer
creates a beat signal that is phase-locked to an electronic
local oscillator (LO). The phase-error is filtered and
integrated to generate a voltage ramp, which is used to
modulate the tunable VCSEL. This feedback produces a
linearly swept frequency chirp at the output of the laser.
This feedback loop is analogous to a traditional PLL, with
the integrator, tunable laser, asymmetric interferometer,
and photodetector comprising a voltage-controlled
oscillator (VCO). When the phase of the VCO is locked
to the phase of the reference oscillator, the frequency
sweep of the tunable laser is linear. As described in [5], a
linear frequency sweep is a stable, self-consistent solution
to the feedback loop shown in Fig. 2. Range measurement
in this closed-loop operation simplifies to

Figure 3. Typical recordings of the MZI reference beat

signal for a given linearly swept laser input.

Figure 4. Beat frequency error at ramp switching point;

without quadrature switching architecture (green, large
beat frequency error at 7us); with quadrature switching
architecture (red, <25% beat frequency error at 7us).

The top part of Fig. 2 shows the LADAR source

implemented in a complete transceiver configuration,
with a target and receiver. However, we focus primarily
on the development and integration of the source OPLL.
Fig. 3 shows a typical tuning ramp and beat signal from
this PLL architecture.
We have also implemented a quadrature phase-switch
architecture that decreases settling time and improves
ramp linearity. Fig. 4 shows the measured beat frequency
error with and quadrature phase-switching.
Chip-level Integration Strategy
The chip scale LADAR source combines three distinct
technologies into a single chip: III-V based MEMS tunable
VCSELs [6], passive optical components and photodiodes

Figure 2. Circuit diagram representing the OPLL

generating a broadband frequency chirp.

in Silicon Photonics, and CMOS electronics (Fig. 5). This

approach allows flexibility in assembly and optimization of
each component.
The 3D integration allows a very compact form factor of
the linearly swept frequency source. Fig. 6 shows a 3D
representation to scale (for reference: the through silicon
via (TSV) are 200um in length). The total volume of the
source is about 2mm3. Such a small form factor can enable
mobile 3D imaging systems, in addition to a very broad
range of optoelectronic applications in datacom and chiplevel communications.
LADAR Chip Fabrication Developments
We have designed several processes in anticipation of
heterogeneous component integration in the near future.
In SOI wafer-scale processing, we have designed a

Figure 5. Schematic representation of the modular

integration strategy, combining active III-V devices, silicon
photonics, and CMOS electronics

Figure 6. 3D model (to scale) of the integrated LADAR

source, including CMOS, photonics and tunable VCSEL.
The photonics wafer is 200um thick.

process that integrates germanium photodetectors with

low-loss single-mode waveguides. Components such as
fiber couplers, laser couplers, power splitters/combiners,
low-loss delay lines, and photodetectors enable the design
of
arbitrary-length
asymmetric
Mach-Zhender
interferometers (MZIs), which are used as a reference
length in the OPLL. In addition, we have developed a
process for creating through-silicon vias (TSVs) on SOI,
enabling direct heterogeneous integration of photonic
components with analog electronics. Fig. 7 shows the
silicon photonics layout for the LADAR chip; Figs. 8 and
9 show photographs of the completed photonics module.
In addition to advances in electronics-photonics
integration, we have also demonstrated promising results
in designing an all-HCG III-V/silicon hybrid laser. As
in previous reports, the active layer consists of AlGaInAs
compressively strained quantum wells (QWs) and
employs proton implant for current confinement. For an
all-HCG structure, we no longer employ a tunnel junction
for carrier conversion. The FabryProt cavity, indicated
by circulating red arrows in Fig. 10, is formed by an InP
HCG top mirror and a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) HCG
bottom mirror. The two material systems are integrated
via a AuSn eutectic thin film bonding process that
provides electrical contact as well as thermal heat-sinking.
In Fig. 11, we show FDTD simulations of an HCG design
that provides both high out-of-plane reflectivity for the
VCSEL, as well as efficient coupling into a silicon inplane waveguide. At 1550 nm, the HCG reflects >99.4%
of the light and couples 47% of the output power into inplane waveguides. As a proof of concept, we have
included designs capable of in-plane coupling in our
fabricated device.
The CMOS circuit is fabricated using commercial MPW
runs and is custom designed for heterogeneous integration
with SOI photonic integrated circuits. These three
components, (CMOS, silicon photonic integrated circuits,
and MEMS-tunable HCG VCSEL), and integration

Figure 7. Layout for silicon photonics SOI process,

includes fiber/VCSEL coupling, low-loss MZIs, integrated
detectors, and TSV sites.

Figure 8. Completed silicon-photonics module with TSV

CMOS interposer structures.

Figure 9. Detail of top- and bottom-side of TSV

interposer structure on silicon-photonics module.

strategies outlined above demonstrate the feasibility of a

fully integrated FMCW LADAR source in the near future.
Benchtop Verification
In order to verify the performance of the LADAR source,
we perform several experiments to analyze the noise

Figure 10. Schematic of a long-wavelength VCSEL

utilizing only HCGs as reflectors.

performance and range-detection capability of the source

in a LADAR architecture. Initially, we demonstrated a
working system architecture using all off-the-shelf
components, and have replaced discrete photonic and
optoelectronic modules with a single, integrated silicon
photonics integrated circuit. We have also demonstrated
ranging performance using a packaged MEMS-tunable
VCSEL, as limited by Brownian motion of the MEMS
structures. Fig. 12 shows experimental performance of an
OPLL with MEMS-tunable VCSEL and discrete
photonics. In addition, the results shown in Fig. 3 were
obtained using the silicon-photonics MZI structure.
Future work will entail integration of CMOS electronics
and
all-HCG
hybrid
VCSEL
with
siliconphotonics/electronic interposer. We anticipate that
completion of these future steps will demonstrate
significant headway in electronic/photonic integration, as
well as progress in developing a compact, fullyintegrated, high-accuracy FMCW LADAR transceiver.

Figure 11. High-contrast grating reflector and coupler

simulation with FDTD: >99.4% reflectivity for VCSEL;
47% of the output power is coupled to waveguide.

Acknowledgements
This project is supported by the Defense Advanced
Research Projects Agency (DARPA) E-PHI program under
Grant No. HR0011-11-2-0021.
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Figure 12. HCG VCSEL frequency sweep in open-loop

performance (red) and closed-loop performance (blue).