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Optoelectronic Components: A Brighter Glow
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
While the electronics and semiconductor industries remain weighed down by global recession, the optoelectronic component market is showing growth. The optoelectronics industry is involved in developing components and technologies for data transfer using ultra-fast optical fiber systems.
By Mamta Kailkhura
Traditionally, the demand for optical fiber components and the attendant equipment has come from rapid growth in the telecom industry and its ever-increasing call for greater bandwidth. With the telecom sector still tightening its belt, further stimulus for the growth of the optoelectronic component market is coming through the advent of new technologies, such as dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) and light-emitting diodes (LEDs).
The industry is ready to return to positive growth in 2003 and 2004. Optoelectronics has assumed a significant place in the economic landscape in the wake of exponential growth of the Internet and other data communications technologies. The optoelectronic component market is expected to generate revenues worth $2.66 billion in 2005.
Internet growth and attempts to bring fiber to the home (FTTH) is likely to boost the growth process. The need for powerful devices arising out of the shift to 3G wireless networks also will bring more optoelectronic-fitted devices into play.
Part by Part
Optical equipment consists of both passive and active components. Passive optical components, circuits that switch or filter light, but do not amplify it, generally do not require power to operate. Active optoelectronic components, such as lasers, amplifiers, modulators and signal detectors, create or amplify light and require power.
Optoelectronic products include lasers, displays for small electronic devices, some components for lighting devices and digital cameras, and various other goods. The industry is looking forward to the vast potential of both active and passive optoelectronic components.
Couplers. Photocoupler applications primarily are used in the telecommunications industry in devices such as modems, telephones, facsimile and answering machines.
The global consumption of fiber optic couplers is expected to increase to $1.75 billion by 2008. The increasing demand for high-capacity transport systems, such as optical fiber amplifiers, optical multiplexers, etc. is expected to result in a sharp resurgence in the coupler segment. With global telecom infrastructure poised for recovery, the demand for couplers is expected to increase substantially in the next two years.
Couplers also are finding new applications as enabling components in a wide range of areas, such as long-haul submarine networks, subscriber loop networks, cable TV networks, test instruments and sensors. As a whole, the coupler industry can look forward to a demand-driven market in the next few years.
Diodes. Diodes, LEDs, visible laser diodes (VLD) and optical communication diodes (OCD) form one of the fastest growing segments of the optoelectronics industry. Diodes have applications ranging from aisle lighting to bar code scanning to high-end telecommunication systems.
LEDs are used for large-scale displays, backlighting, instrumentation, cellular and cordless telephones, indoor message displays, and switches, as well as aisle lighting. The arrival of blue and blue-green LEDs has opened new areas of applications. They now are used in traffic signal lights and signboards. LEDs are even reaching inside the ubiquitous light bulb.
VLDs are found in bar code scanning devices, alignment type applications, and DVD-ROM and DVD players. To meet the increasing public demand for enhanced storage capability, VLDs are planted in media items such as CDs and DVDs. Increasing demand for enhanced storage capability and increasingly graphics-laden home entertainment products have bolstered the demand for VLDs. OCDs mainly are used for high-end light-wave telecommunications systems.
The worldwide market for laser diodes for telecommunications applications is forecast to grow to $5.35 billion in 2004. The growing market for DVD video players and DVD-ROM drives will increase demand for laser diodes with wavelengths less than 1 µm.
Lasers for long-distance transmission are priced the highest and also represent the highest-growth segment of the market. Moreover, some new products such as tunable lasers promise to seize a sizable share of specific market segments by 2004.
The laser diode market is experiencing double-digit growth, and is likely to grow further as the economy improves.
Optical Isolators. Optical isolators are devices that allow the transmission of emitting laser light in only one direction. They eliminate the adverse effect of return beams in high-speed optical fiber transmittance routes and amplifiers.
With the optical communications market undergoing rapid growth because of multimedia environment advances and increasing demand for high-speed Internet access, demand for the isolators is growing rapidly. Most of the demand is likely to come from telecommunications, private data networks, cable TV, military or aerospace, and specialty applications.
Sensors. With the rise in demand for facsimile machines, printers, copiers, disk drives, VCRs, scanners and cameras, the sensor industry is witnessing a boom. The introduction of smart technology also is boosting demand for sensors as new silicon-based ultrasonic sensors offer semiconductor manufacturing equipment industry firms cost-effective solutions geared for high-volume applications. This market is expected to garner more than $200 million in revenues in 2007.
Gigabit Ethernet Transceivers. The emergence of the first all-switched, all-optical Ethernet standard, 802.3AE, has boosted the sector. In 2001, vendors shipped 1.4 million gigabit Ethernet ports. Gigabit Ethernet has begun to overtake asynchronous transfer mode as the corporate choice for high-speed connections.
Others. Other components, such as silicon PIN photodiode, also are doing well. Silicon photodiodes convert light into an electrical signal (voltage or current). The most prominent trends in PIN photodiodes are in integration and packaging rather than the detector itself. This is in response to a steady increase in market demand for OEM photodetection modules that feature higher levels of optical and electronic functionality integrated within a single package. Other products with extensive industry application include wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) optical transceivers, fiber optic TX and RX, HcT detectors, amplitude modulators, and InGaAs detectors.
Component manufacturers now are integrating more optical components into single, compact modules. These integrated modules can provide higher performance and functionality than individual products linked together. Companies are even trying to perform hybrid integration of passive components, such as long interconnecting waveguide sections for signal routing, and active elements such as modulators and signal detectors. Bringing passives, actives and electronics into a module is the next logical step.
Optoelectronic devices have fragile optical fibers hanging from them that require submicron directional alignment. As a result, the devices need to be handled manually by skilled technicians at many stages of the manufacturing process, making design of fully automated machines challenging.
The industry is looking for new automation strategies and machine platforms that can make the manufacturing process highly repeatable and independent of the operator.
Good Days to Come
Being component-based, the fortune of the industry closely moves with the performance and demand of the products into which the components are built. Here, the future holds much promise as "gadget mania" begins to pick up across the globe. This is especially evident in the rising demand for home entertainment products such as DVDs. On the whole, the optoelectronics industry is poised to remain the fastest growing segment in the electronics industry for many years.
For more information, contact Julia Paulson, Frost & Sullivan, (210) 247-3870; E-mail: jpaulson@frost.com.