Fabrication of photonic integrated circuits using quantum well intermixing

Abstract

Intermixing the wells and barriers of quantum well structures generally results in an increase in the band gap and is accompanied by changes in the refractive index. A range of techniques, based on impurity diffusion, dielectric capping and laser annealing, have been developed to enhance the quantum well intermixing (QWI) rate in selected areas of a wafer. Such process offer the prospect of a powerful and relatively simple fabrication route for integrating optoelectronic devices and for forming photonic integrated circuits (PICs). Recent progress in QWI techniques is reviewed, concertrating on processes which are compatible with PIC applications, and illustrated with device demonstrators.