Cheng H.-TYang Y.-CLiu T.-HCHAO-HSIN WU2023-06-092023-06-09202223046732https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85124849980&doi=10.3390%2fphotonics9020107&partnerID=40&md5=c6c9c23273b03eb0db1ca02518405b51https://scholars.lib.ntu.edu.tw/handle/123456789/632225Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) have made remarkable progress, are being used across a wide range of consumer electronic applications, and have particularly received much attention from the telecom and datacom industries. However, several constraints are thus currently being tackled to improve the device characteristics and modulation formats to meet the various demanding requirements of the future 800 GbE and 1.6 TbE Ethernet standards. This manuscript discusses the device characteristics and the key considerations in the device designs and optimizations. Finally, we elucidate the latest developments and vital features of modern 850 nm VCSELs for high-speed interconnects. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.1.6 TbE; 800 GbE; 850 nm VCSELs; High-speed optical interconnects; Modulation formats; Next-generation data communication VCSELs; Vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs)journal article10.3390/photonics90201072-s2.0-85124849980