10 December 2014

Daylight Solutions achieves over 1 million hours of QCL operation

Daylight Solutions Inc of San Diego, CA, USA - which makes molecular detection and imaging systems based on mid-infrared quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) for scientific research, life science, industrial process control and defense applications – says that it has reached two major milestones as part of its ongoing reliability characterization and growth program for QCL technology.

Over 1 million hours of QCL device operation, and over 250,000 hours of fully packaged QCL module operation, have been accumulated as part of this program. All units under test were sampled from high-yield commercial production. The units maintained optical power levels above specifications throughout the test, and continue to operate without failure.

Over 80 individual QCLs sampled from five different epitaxial wafers are being evaluated as part of the current reliability characterization program. Lasers are running in both continuous-wave (CW) and pulsed (quasi-CW) modes of operation to explore the reliability effects of each operating condition.

While some of the devices are operating at standard room temperature, most of the tests are being conducted with the QCL devices running at a higher temperature of 60°C. Elevating the device operating temperature has been demonstrated to accelerate the aging effects of standard group III-V semiconductor diode lasers, and creates an added stress component for these tests.

In practice, the thermal management system of the QCL-based products will maintain device temperatures around 25°C while allowing the ambient temperature to increase beyond 71°C while maintaining performance.

“The achievement of this milestone demonstrates the inherent reliability of our QCL technology,” claims CEO Dr Timothy Day. “Our team is committed to the continuous execution of reliability growth programs to support the demanding requirements of our customers.”

Tags: Daylight Solutions

Visit: www.daylightsolutions.com