Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser Sensor Market Size Forecast to Reach $3.1 Billion by 2026

The Global Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) Sensor Market is forecast to reach $3.1 Billion by 2026, growing at CAGR 17.2% during the forecast period 2021-2026. Rising technological advancements across consumer devices especially smartphones features encompass facial recognition, high quality image acquisition, ambient light sensing and so on are analysed to drive the market. Along with this, increasing demands from automotive sector towards VCSEL based LiDAR for ADAS systems is also poised to assist VCSEL sensor market growth from 2021 to 2026. Moreover, deployment of VCSEL technology in medical diagnostic and therapeutic applications as well as the telecommunication sector for achieving high data communication speeds through integration into advanced optical transceivers are also analysed to open new growth avenues for VCSEL sensors market. Key Takeaways

• Multi-mode segment is expected to have a major contribution during the forecast period 2021-2026 for the VCSEL sensor owing to its higher data transmission feature for telecom applications and better compatibility for space constrained application such as consumer devices.
• APCA is expected to have a major share during the forecast period in the VCSEL sensor market due to high investments from major end customers especially for smartphones applications using VCSEL technology.

VCSEL Sensor Market Segment Analysis - By Sensing Type  Based on sensing type, the vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) sensor has been segmented under single mode and multi-mode. Multi-mode VCSEL sensor market is anticipated to have a major growth in during the forecast period 2021-2026 at 22.9% due to its adoption across various applications such as proximity sensing, data transmission, IR illumination and others across various industry verticals including medical, consumer electronics, telecom and others. Moreover, multi-mode sensors offer features such as better modulation, higher data transmission speed as well as cost effective as compared to single mode sensors. Features such as cost efficiency, low power consumption capacity, compact size and so on, are analyzed to have a significant impact on its integration in various electronic devices including smartphones, computer mice, AR-VR sets, gaming setups, laptops and among others, making it a better alternative than single mode of operation. VCSEL Sensor Market Segment Analysis - By Type The VCSEL sensor market is set to be dominated by laser and reflective sensors for usage in medical applications. The laser sensor market is projected to grow at 21.2% CAGR through 2026. The surging COVID-19 pandemic has caused manufacturers to start developing wearable medical devices such as pulse oximeters, fitness trackers, patient monitoring systems with advanced and cheaper components. As a part of this, a leading Indian medical equipment vendor, Mitocon Biomed had launched an affordable pulse oximeter named Oxysat for monitoring blood oxygen levels of patients with low to mild symptoms of COVID-19, for personal use. Post the pandemic, investments in improving and upgrading healthcare infrastructure in developed and developing economies is set to surge the demand for various medical devices. This is comprehended to fuel the need for VCSEL technology for various medical devices during 2021-2026 VCSEL Sensor Market Segment Analysis - By Geography Asia-Pacific VCSEL sensor market is estimated to witness a major growth of around CAGR 20.0% during the forecast period 2021-2026. High investments towards research and development activities along with the growth of consumer electronics sector have been fueling the growth for VCSEL sensor market in this region. Moreover, factors such as increasing demand for medium to high range smartphones with new features such as gesture and facial recognition is also set to drive the demand for VCSEL sensors from 2020 to 2025. Presence of some major Chinese mobile companies such as Oppo, Vivo, Xiaomi and others which has been offering advanced proximity sensing features such as facial recognition and gesture control using VCSELs in their smartphones has been assessed as one of the factors to positively affect the market growth during 2021-2026.

VCSEL Sensor Market, By Sensor Type, 2020

VCSEL Sensor Market Drivers Rising adoption in LiDAR using VCSEL technology The rising demand towards vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) technology in automotive LiDARs systems have been acting as a major driver for the market. Since VCSEL technology provides benefits such as low power consumption as well as low sensitivity towards temperature, they are getting highly used in automotive LiDAR systems including advanced driver assistance systems to improve driving standards and safety. Moreover, usage of VCSEL based LiDAR assists in offering more enlarged illumination range, compact footprint and lightweight structure as compared to LiDAR systems based on edge emitter laser technology. In 2020, a leading automotive LiDAR specialist, Ibeo Automotive Systems signed a contract to provide Great Wall Motor (GWM) Company with VCSEL technology based solid state LiDAR for deployment in level-3 semi-autonomous cars of GWM. The gradual shift towards VCSEL technology for LiDAR applications is estimated to drive the adoption of VCSEL sensors in automotive sector during 2020-2025. Technological advancements in consumer devices Rising technological advancements in consumer devices is also analysed to be one of the major drivers of vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) sensors market. With advancements towards high performance and advanced features in smartphones such as face recognition, gesture control, virtual reality in smartphones, there has been high rate of smart phone penetration, thus causing the manufacturers to use VCSEL sensors for improving such features. The VCSEL technology-based sensors can provide enhanced 3d sensing applications within mobile devices which is fuelling its adoption for this application. In 2020, Apple launched its new product, iPad pro incorporated with a LiDAR scanner for improving the 3d sensing standards using VCSEL direct time-of-flight (ToF). This VCSEL technology emits light energy which will be utilized for determining the reflected time as well as offering power saving advantage. Since the consumer device manufacturers generally make use of time-of-flight solutions using indirect ToF cameras, this development is set to have major impact on the growth of VCSEL sensors for consumer applications. VCSEL Sensor Market Challenges Designing challenges The complexities related to designing of vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) sensor architecture is analysed to be one of the major challenges impeding the market growth. Since the chip designers need to combine features such as compact size, less weight as well as low power consumption, the process related to product designing, development, and verification stages for the product development takes more time. Improper designing of such sensors can also create optical crosstalk issues contributing to degradation of signal to noise ratio, thereby hampering its adoption for various industrial and consumer applications which are highly sensitive requirements for component selection in these areas. VCSEL Sensor Market Landscape Partnerships and acquisitions along with product launches are the key strategies of the players in the VCSEL sensor Market. The major key players in the VCSEL sensor Market include Vixar Inc., Broadcom Inc., Lumentum Operations LLC, ams AG, II-VI Incorporated, IQE, Vishay Intertechnology Inc., Santec Corporation, WIN Semiconductors and TT Electronics. Partnerships/Product Launches/Acquisition

• In February 2020, Vixar Inc. (a subsidiary of Osram GmbH) had announced the expansion of its vertical-cavity surface emitting laser chip portfolio by introducing a high power (10W) 940nm wavelength chip. This chip is highly suitable for industrial applications such as mapping, automatic vehicles and mobile robots and offers greater efficiency, aimed at 3D sensing applications.
• In January 2020, Vishay Intertechnology Inc. had launched two fully integrated proximity sensors equipped with vertical cavity surface emitting laser. These sensors were designed to increase efficiency and performance within consumer and industrial applications. The low power consumption of 66 µA with ranges up to 300 nm helps in providing better industrial applications.