Light-Emitting Diode (LED) Arrays For Optical Recorders

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Abstract
Linear arrays of extremely small, individually addressable Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are being developed at Perkin-Elmer for use in high bandwidth, high resolution optical recorders. These essentially monolithic arrays offer an attractive alternative to systems now using lasers and scanners. They will be compatible with existing CCD arrays currently being used in various optical sensors, and will make possible a fast, relatively efficient, all solid state optical recorder with very high spatial resolution capabilities. GaAs0.6P 0.4 was selected as the source material for the LEDs because it emits in the red portion of the visible spectrum (i.e. near 6600Å), which is well within the sensitivity range for a number of different recording films. Operating characteristics for arrays of surface-emitting LEDs fabricated on 12-13 μm centers will be discussed in this paper. Included will be data on the radiant intensity as a function of current, and the current-voltage characteristics for individual elements, as well as the results of measurements of both the near-field and the far-field emission patterns. Recent measurements of the radiant intensity indicate that operation in the 1-3 μwatt/steradian range can readily be achieved using LEDs having rectangular emitting areas as small as 9 μm x 14 μm. Output power levels of this magnitude will permit data recording rates in excess of 100 Mpixel/sec.

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