Heterogeneous integration of SiGe/Ge and III-V for Si photonics

Abstract

The heterogeneous integration of SiGe/Ge and III-V semiconductors gives us an opportunity to enhance functionalities of Si photonics platform through their superior material properties which lack in Si. In this paper we discuss what SiGe/Ge and III-V can bring to Si photonics. We have predicted that the light effective hole mass in strained SiGe results in the enhanced the free-carrier effects such as the plasma dispersion effect and free-carrier absorption. We observed significantly larger free-carrier absorption in the SiGe optical modulator than in the control Si device. By fabricating asymmetric Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) SiGe optical modulators, the enhancement of the plasma dispersion effect in strained SiGe has been successfully demonstrated. Mid-infrared integrated photonics based on Ge waveguides on Si have also been investigated. Since Ge is transparent to the entire mid-infrared range, Ge photonic integrated circuits on the Ge-on-Insulator (GeOI) wafer are quite attractive. We have successfully fabricated the GeOI wafer with 2-μm-thick buried oxide (BOX) layer by wafer bonding. The passive waveguide components based on Ge strip waveguides have been demonstrated on the GeOI. We have also demonstrated carrier-injection Ge variable optical attenuators. We have proposed and investigate the III-V CMOS photonics platform by using the III-V on Insulator (IIIV- OI) on a Si wafer. The strong optical confinement in the III-V-OI enables us to achieve high-performance photonic devices. We have successfully demonstrated InGaAsP MZI optical switch with the low on-state crosstalk on the III-V-OI. Ultra-low dark current waveguide InGaAs PDs integrated with an InP grating coupler are also achieved.