Reliability of optoelectronic components for telecommunications

The development of optical communications has generated a huge expansion of the use of optoelectronic components for transmission, mainly for transmitters, receivers and optical amplifiers. This development has been possible because the technology is now mature, meaning that performances and reliability have greatly improved over the last years. This paper will give a short history of the evolution of the reliability of optical components, and will describe the current status. Main failures mechanisms analyses and a comparison between reliability calculations and actual field operational results will be made. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.