Program Results

Introduction to the event

1.Professor Charles Tu, Assistant Professor Chun-Nien Liu, and Dean Tien-Tsorng Shi of National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology have obtained a Ministry of Science and Technology’s (MOST) Academia-to-Industry program on a light-engine subsystem for solid-state LiDARs (Light Detection and Ranging) by combining a no-moving-parts solid-state 2D Optical-Phased Array (OPA) with eye-safe 1550-nm vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL).  This project also collaborates with industrial partners like HPB Optoelectronics.  This project is chosen as one of 100 Future Technologies Awards, to be showcased in the “2021 Taiwan Innovative Technologies Expo” on October 14-23, 2021.

2.Reflective solid-state OPA chips, representing the most advanced optical scanning component of the third-generation LiDAR, were designed and fabricated with CMOS-compatible processes.  Different from the general OPA design, this OPA uses a high-dielectric thin-film to make the 128 reflective surface arrays. With different input voltages (~30 V) to modulate the refractive index of each element and introduce different phase Using a 1550 nm fiber laser as the light source (as the 1550-nm VCSEL is still underdevelopment), we demonstrated the performance of the no-moving-parts OPA: a field of view (FOV) of 30o (horizontal) x 2.5o (vertical), a scanning rate up to 1 kHz (highest ratein industry so far), a 100-meter detection distance, and a 3D point cloud.

Fig. 1  Reflective optical-phased array (OPA) chips

Fig. 2  Demonstration of a point cloud using a Time-of-Flight chip with the scanning of the OPA